Eli Lilly to Acquire Kelonia Therapeutics for Up to $7 Billion

Eli Lilly and Company announced on Monday its agreement to acquire Kelonia Therapeutics, a Boston-based biotechnology firm, in a deal valued at up to $7 billion. The transaction positions the pharmaceutical giant to expand its oncology offerings with an experimental in vivo cell therapy aimed at treating multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer.

The acquisition includes $3.25 billion in upfront cash payments to Kelonia shareholders, with an additional $3.75 billion contingent on achieving clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones. Kelonia's lead candidate, KLN1010, is currently in Phase 1 clinical trials for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The therapy utilizes the company's iGPS platform to engineer CAR-T cells directly inside the body, bypassing the need to extract, modify, and reinfuse a patient's T cells in a laboratory setting. This approach aims to reduce manufacturing complexities, costs, and treatment barriers associated with traditional CAR-T therapies.

Jacob Van Naarden, executive vice president of oncology research and development at Eli Lilly, described the early data for KLN1010 as "highly encouraging," noting that current CAR-T...