Eli Lilly agrees to acquire Orna Therapeutics for up to $2.4B
Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) announced on February 9, 2026, that it has agreed to acquire Orna Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering circular RNA and novel lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery technologies for in vivo cell therapies.
The transaction could deliver up to $2.4 billion in cash to Orna shareholders, consisting of an upfront payment and additional milestone payments tied to clinical development progress.
Orna’s lead program, ORN-252, is a clinical trial-ready CD19-targeting in vivo CAR-T candidate designed for B cell-driven autoimmune diseases.
The approach leverages circular RNA to enable more durable therapeutic expression compared with traditional linear mRNA, combined with Orna’s proprietary LNP delivery system to reprogram cells directly in vivo without the need for ex vivo cell manipulation.
The acquisition strengthens Lilly’s growing portfolio in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases by adding a next-generation in vivo cell therapy platform with potential for broader applications beyond traditional ex vivo CAR-T approaches.
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