Kelonia Therapeutics became the newest biotech takeout target this week. The privately held company, which is developing cell therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases, will be acquired by Eli Lilly.
The acquisition is a boon for the small startup, which has subsisted on $60 million over the last five years and previously struggled to stay afloat. (Check out an earlier slide deck and memo on the company here.) Kelonia came within a week of running out of cash three times. Now it’s being bought for $3.2 billion with potential milestone payments that could double that payout.
On this week’s edition of its biotech podcast, “The Readout Loud,” STAT spoke with Bryan Roberts, a partner at VC firm Venrock, which incubated the biotech, to discuss how this small company managed to land a big deal.
