Eli Lilly snaps up Watertown biotech in $2.4 billion deal

Business

Orna Therapeutics, which engineers immune cells inside the body, will fold into one of the world’s largest drugmakers.

One of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, Eli Lilly, announced on Monday that it is acquiring the Watertown-based biotech Orna Therapeutics for $2.4 billion. 

Orna is developing a new treatment that uses circular RNA and specialized lipid particles to prompt a patient’s own body to produce the cell therapies needed to fight disease.

The technology has the potential to “unlock an entirely new class of genetic medicines and cell therapies for patients who today have limited or no treatment options,” said Francisco Ramírez-Valle, senior vice president and head of Immunology Research and Early Clinical Development at Eli Lilly, in a statement. 

In August, LexisNexis named Orna Therapeutics “the most innovative biotech startup” in the world. 

The list included three other Boston-area biotech companies: ElevateBio, Manus, and Arbor Biotech. 

“The world’s most innovative biotech startups walk the line between science and science fiction, as they unravel the secrets of our genetic code, create miraculous cures for intractable diseases, design and power new foods for humanity, and invent new bioatlernatives to key materials and products,” said Marco Ritcher, senior director of IP Analystics and Strategy for LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions. 

Based in Indiana, Eli Lilly is the country’s largest pharmaceutical company by market value and has been developing medicines that have helped tens of millions of people for nearly 150 years.

Last year, the company also acquired Massachusetts-based Scorpion Therapeutics, which develops small-molecule precision oncology therapies, for $2.5 billion, and Verve Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company developing medicines for cardiovascular disease, for $1.13 billion. 

The acquisition of Orna is a head start to bringing more acquisitions to the Boston area after a slowdown last year. 

According to the 2025 Massachusetts Biopharma Funding and Pipeline Report, 36 Massachusetts companies were acquired for a total of $20 billion. That total is significantly down from $42.51 billion in 2024 (which included the $13.88 billion Bristol Myers Squibb acquisition of Karuna Therapeutics). 

The report also found that 12 Massachusetts companies made acquisitions last year for a disclosed total of $299 million. However, that also paled in comparison to 2024, when 25 Massachusetts companies made acquisitions totaling $10.62 billion. 

Beth Treffeisen is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on local news, crime, and business in the New England region.