April 19 (Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly is in advanced talks to acquire biotech firm Kelonia Therapeutics for more than $2 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
A deal could be reached as soon as Monday and could include additional payments tied to Kelonia meeting certain milestones, the Journal added, citing people.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Eli Lilly and Kelonia Therapeutics did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment outside regular business
hours.
Boston-based Kelonia Therapeutics is a clinical‑stage biotechnology company working on a pipeline of genetic medicines across a range of diseases with a focus on CAR‑T cell therapies.
CAR-T therapies modify a patient's immune cells to recognize a specific target and destroy cancer cells.
A potential deal would strengthen Lilly's cancer portfolio, which includes therapies, such as Jaypirca and breast cancer drug Verzenio and other promising candidates, to bolster its presence in the fast-growing but competitive cancer treatment market.
Lilly, which is dominating the obesity market, has diversified beyond its blockbuster weight-loss drugs into other therapeutic areas such as inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, eye disorders and gene-editing technologies through acquisitions and partnerships.
In February, the company said it would acquire Orna Therapeutics for up to $2.4 billion in cash.
(Reporting by Mihika Sharma in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Gursimran Kaur, Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
