By Padmanabhan Ananthan and Sriparna Roy
Feb 9 (Reuters) – Eli Lilly will buy Orna Therapeutics for up to $2.4 billion in cash, gaining access to a technology that allows patients’ own cells to generate therapies inside the body, without the need to extract them.
The deal, announced on Monday, is the latest in the flurry of transactions signed by the U.S. drugmaker over the last few months to diversify beyond obesity. Lilly shares were up more than 3% in morning trading.
Orna is developing therapies that use a form of RNA called circular RNA, along with novel lipid nanoparticles. Its lead drug candidate, ORN-252, is in early stages of development.
It is a type of treatment called chimeric antigen receptor T-cell, or CAR-T, targeting cells with a receptor called CD19.
CAR-T therapies modify a patient’s immune cells to recognize a specific target and destroy cancer cells.
Drugmakers such as Bristol Myers Squibb, Gilead and Johnson & Johnson already offer CAR-T therapies to treat cancer, but most involve isolating the cells, altering and infusing them back into patients’ bodies.
Instead of modifying the cells in a lab, Orna aims to produce them “in vivo” or inside the body.
Orna’s platform has the potential to expand Lilly’s capabilities in the oncology and immunology space, said BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman.
Seigerman, however, said the technology is high-risk and without validation in large trials, as well as flagged stiff competition from Bristol Myers, AbbVie and Gilead, which all struck deals in the space last year.
Lilly, which is dominating the competitive obesity market, has been diversifying beyond its blockbuster weight-loss drugs into other therapeutic areas such as inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, eye disorders and gene-editing technologies through acquisitions and partnerships.
The company struck a deal with China’s Innovent Biologics this month to develop immunology and oncology drugs. It would pay $350 million upfront and as much as $8.5 billion more if milestones are met.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy and Padmanabhan Ananthan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
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