Eli Lilly agreed to acquire Orna Therapeutics for up to $2.4 billion to secure the company’s circular RNA platform for in vivo CAR‑T therapies. Lilly said Orna’s lead program, ORN‑252, a CD19‑targeting in‑vivo CAR‑T candidate, is clinical trial‑ready and aimed at B cell‑driven autoimmune diseases. The deal gives Lilly an in‑house route to generate cell therapies without ex vivo manufacturing. Orna pairs engineered circular RNA with lipid nanoparticle delivery to produce durable expression of therapeutic proteins in patients. Lilly positioned the acquisition as a long‑term investment in genetic medicine and in‑vivo cell engineering, joining peers that have recently bought similar platforms to accelerate autoimmune and oncology pipelines.