Lilly buys Orna, strikes broad pipeline deal with Innovent: Deals Report

Lilly made the latest M&A deal for an in vivo CAR T company this week, while also deepening its ties to the innovative pipeline of Innovent, a Suzhou-based company with which it has a decade-long relationship.

Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY) said early Monday that it had paid an undisclosed amount up front to acquire Orna Therapeutics Inc., a Watertown, Mass.-based start-up developing therapies that use circular RNA in lipid nanoparticles. The company’s most advanced therapy, ORN-252, is an in vivo CAR T therapy using the technology and targeting CD19 to treat B cell-associated autoimmune disorders; Lilly said it is ready to enter the clinic...