Eli Lilly to buy cancer biotech Kelonia Therapeutics for up to USD7b
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has agreed to buy biotech Kelonia Therapeutics in a deal valued at up to USD7 billion ($9.76 billion), securing access to its CAR-T cancer treatment currently in development.
The numbers: In a press release on the announcement, Eli Lilly said Kelonia shareholders will receive USD7 billion in cash for the company, inclusive of an upfront payment of USD3.25 billion, with the remaining payments contingent upon clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026.
The context: The privately held Kelonia is developing an in-vivo CAR-T therapy to treat cancer. The novel treatment involves reprogramming the T-cells inside patients’ bodies so that they can attack cancer cells. The in-vivo therapy does not require removal of the cells to alter them or administer chemotherapy prior to returning the cells to the body. The treatment begins to work after a single infusion.
Traditional CAR-T treatments involve removing a patient’s immune cells from the body to genetically modify them to bind to cancer cells, before reintroducing them to the body.
The trial is currently enrolling patients in Australia to multiple clinical sites across the United States.
Kirkland and Ellis provided legal counsel for Eli Lilly, while Jefferies and Goodwin Procter LLP advised Kelonia.
What they said: “Kelonia’s in vivo platform has the potential to change that by delivering rapid, durable responses in a far simpler, off-the-shelf format,” said Jacob Van Naarden, executive vice president and president of Lilly Oncology and head of corporate business development. “The early clinical data for KLN-1010 are highly encouraging, both as a potential step forward for patients with multiple myeloma and as proof of concept for Kelonia’s platform.”
The source: Eli Lilly
