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

Eli Lilly shares gained 2% in premarket.

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.