Overview
- Lilly and Orna signed a definitive agreement under which Lilly will acquire Orna.
- Orna shareholders could receive up to $2.4 billion in cash, combining an upfront payment with milestone payments tied to clinical progress.
- Orna’s approach pairs engineered circular RNA with lipid nanoparticles to program patients’ cells in vivo, with claimed advantages over traditional mRNA in production, formulation, and protein expression.
- Lead program ORN-252 is described as clinical trial–ready, a CD19-targeting in vivo CAR‑T intended for B cell–driven autoimmune diseases.
- Lilly cited the complexity, cost, and logistics of ex vivo CAR‑T as a key rationale for in vivo strategies, and said GAAP accounting will be determined upon closing with advisors including Paul, Weiss for Lilly and Lazard and Goodwin Procter for Orna.