Eli Lilly and Company and Orna Therapeutics have signed a definitive agreement for Lilly to acquire Orna, a biotechnology company focused on engineering immune cells in vivo. The deal is aimed at expanding Lilly’s capabilities in genetic medicine and in vivo cell engineering, with a particular focus on advancing in vivo CAR-T therapies to broaden the reach of cell therapy beyond current ex vivo models.
Orna is developing therapeutics that use engineered circular RNA paired with novel lipid nanoparticles, designed to enable a patient’s own body to generate cell therapies that can treat underlying disease. The company’s lead program, ORN-252, is described as a clinical trial-ready, CD19-targeting in vivo Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell therapy intended to address B-cell-driven autoimmune diseases. The companies said early experimental work suggests Orna’s circular RNA platform may deliver more durable expression of therapeutic proteins, potentially enabling treatments that are difficult to achieve with current RNA or cell therapy platforms.
Financially, Lilly will acquire Orna, and Orna shareholders could receive up to $2.4 billion in cash, including an upfront payment and additional payments tied to the achievement of certain clinical development milestones.
Support: Advisors on the transaction include Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP as legal counsel to Lilly, Lazard as financial advisor to Orna, and Goodwin Procter LLP as legal counsel to Orna.
KEY QUOTES
“Early autologous CAR-T studies have shown the promise of cell therapy for patients with autoimmune diseases, but the complexity, cost, and logistics of ex vivo approaches make it challenging to deliver these breakthroughs to the broader population of patients who need them. We look forward to working with Orna colleagues to potentially unlock an entirely new class of genetic medicines and cell therapies for patients who today have limited or no treatment options.”
Francisco Ramírez-Valle M.D., Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Head Of Immunology Research And Early Clinical Development, Eli Lilly And Company
“At Orna, we believe our circular RNA technology paired with our best-in-class LNP delivery platform have the potential to unlock in vivo CAR-T therapies for patients across a wide range of B cell-driven autoimmune diseases. We are excited to join forces with Lilly, an industry leader in the development of patient-centric therapeutics to realize the full potential of these technologies,”
Joe Bolen, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Orna Therapeutics
