Eli Lilly has announced plans to buy Kelonia Therapeutics for up to $7bn, gaining access to an experimental cancer therapy that reprogrammes immune cells inside the body. The deal is the drugmaker’s biggest push yet into cell therapy, a field it has been building fast through a string of deals over the past year.
The agreement includes a $3.25bn upfront cash payment, with the rest tied to clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones. It is due to close in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory sign-off.
The technology
Kelonia’s lead drug, KLN-1010, targets multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that remains incurable for most patients. Unlike existing treatments, which require harvesting a patient’s cells, engineering them in a lab and reinfusing them weeks later, KLN-1010 is designed to reprogram T-cells inside the body through a single IV infusion, with no preconditioning chemotherapy needed. Its backers argue the approach could cut the time, cost and complexity that has long kept CAR-T treatments out of reach for many patients.
First-in-human data shown at the American Society of Hematology’s annual meeting in December found no detectable cancer cells in all four patients treated, with those responses held through three months in the two with the longest follow-up. The drug also produced strong CAR-T cell growth reaching up to 85% of circulating T-cells, with no lymphodepleting chemotherapy given. The trial is still small and how long responses last remains to be seen.
A crowded field
The deal sees Lilly enter into a fast-moving market. J&J’s CAR-T drug brought in $1.89bn in sales last year, while Gilead recently bought partner Arcellx and its rival myeloma drug for $7.8bn. Other recent in vivo deals include AbbVie’s $2.1bn buy of Capstan and Bristol Myers Squibb’s $1.5bn takeover of Orbital.
Jacob Van Naarden, Executive Vice President, President of Oncology and Head of Corporate Business Development, Eli Lilly, said the early results made the case for the price tag. “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.”
Kevin Friedman, CEO, Kelonia Therapeutics, said the deal would extend the reach of the therapy well beyond blood cancers. “Our in vivo iGPS platform is positioned to broaden the reach of cell therapy beyond the current CAR-T landscape and to transform treatment across a far wider range of cancers and other serious diseases.”
The Kelonia deal is Lilly’s second in vivo buy this year, after its $2.4bn purchase of Orna Therapeutics in February.
Featured image: JHVEPhoto on Adobe Stock
