Feb 9 (Reuters) - Eli Lilly ( LLY ) will buy therapy developer Orna Therapeutics for up to $2.4 billion in cash, ‌the companies said on Monday.

This ​marks the latest in the ‍string of deals the ⁠U.S. ⁠drugmaker has signed over the last ‌few months to ​diversify beyond obesity.

The biotech is developing a new ⁠class of ‍therapies ​that use a form of RNA called circular RNA, along ‍with novel lipid nanoparticles to allow the patient's own body to generate cell therapies, which can ​treat ‍the underlying disease.

Orna's lead drug candidate, ORN-252, belongs ​to the class known as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell, or CAR-T, targeting cells with a receptor called CD19, a marker ​found on certain B cells.