Business

Eli Lilly to acquire Boston biotech Kelonia Therapy in $7 billion deal

The purchase marks the pharmaceutical giant’s latest multibillion-dollar move to expand its footprint in Massachusetts.

Lily sign on top of its newly opened innovation center in the Seaport. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)

April 20, 2026 | 2:48 PM

1 minute to read

Eli Lilly will acquire Boston-based cancer biotech Kelonia Therapeutics for $7 billion, the pharmaceutical giant announced Monday, marking its latest major expansion in Massachusetts.

Based in Dorchester’s Southline development, Kelonia Therapeutics is developing cell therapies for blood cancers, including a one-time gene treatment for multiple myeloma that has shown early promise.

Kelonia shareholders will receive $3.25 billion upfront in cash, and Eli Lilly will pay the remaining $7 billion if the company meets certain clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones, the release said.

Personalized immunotherapy programs “have meaningfully improved outcomes for patients with various cancers, but significant manufacturing, safety, and access barriers mean that only a fraction of eligible patients actually receive them,” said Jacob Van Naarden, executive vice president and president of Lilly Oncology and Eli Lilly’s head of corporate business development.

He continued, “Kelonia’s in vivo platform has the potential to change that by delivering rapid, durable responses in a far simpler, off-the-shelf format.”

This deal is only the latest Lilly has signed with Boston biotechs in recent years, following its expansion in the Seaport when it opened its 346,000-square-foot innovation center in 2024.

Eli Lilly acquired the sleep-medicines biotech Centessa Pharmaceuticals last month for $6.3 billion and the Watertown biotech, Orna Therapeutics, in February for $2.4 billion.

Last year, the Indiana-based 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.