Lilly to acquire Orna Therapeutics to advance cell therapies

Core Insights - Eli Lilly and Company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Orna Therapeutics, which focuses on engineering immune cells in vivo, potentially enhancing genetic medicine and cell engineering innovation [1][3] Company Overview - Eli Lilly is a long-established pharmaceutical company that has been making significant contributions to healthcare for nearly 150 years, focusing on various therapeutic areas including diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer's disease, immune system disorders, and cancer [5] - Orna Therapeutics specializes in developing a new class of therapeutics using engineered circular RNA and lipid nanoparticles, aiming to enable the body to generate its own cell therapies for treating diseases [2][6] Acquisition Details - The acquisition deal includes a total potential payment of up to $2.4 billion to Orna's shareholders, which consists of an upfront payment and additional payments contingent on achieving specific clinical development milestones [3] - Lilly will account for this transaction in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) once the acquisition is finalized [4] Technological Advancements - Orna's lead program, ORN-252, is a clinical trial-ready CAR-T therapy targeting CD19, designed to treat B cell-driven autoimmune diseases, with the potential for more durable therapeutic protein expression compared to existing RNA or cell therapy platforms [2][3] - The combination of Orna's circular RNA technology and its lipid nanoparticle delivery system is expected to unlock new in vivo CAR-T therapies for a range of autoimmune diseases [3][6][7]