STAT+: Eli Lilly’s $3.25 billion acquisition of Kelonia Therapeutics caps startup’s tortuous ride

Eli Lilly is spending $3.25 billion to acquire Kelonia Therapeutics, a small biotech company developing cell therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases, the companies announced Monday. Lilly could pay more if Kelonia achieves specified clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones. 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. Three times, the company came within a week of running out of cash, according to Bryan Roberts, a partner at the venture capital firm Venrock, which incubated the biotech. Following the announcement of Lilly’s acquisition, Roberts shared these anecdotes along with the original investment memo and slide deck once used to get Kelonia — then called Elcano Therapeutics — off the ground. The documents offer a rare look at the process of starting a biotech company, including how investors assessed the “kajillion gene therapy efforts” to contend with. Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…