BMS bets $800 million upfront on SystImmune’s bispecific ADC

2023-12-11

临床1期并购ASCO会议抗体药物偶联物引进/卖出

Bristol Myers Squibb will make an upfront payment of $800 million to SystImmune as part of a deal potentially worth up to $8.4 billion to develop the latter’s EGFRxHER3 bispecific antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) BL-B01D1. Samit Hirawat, chief medical officer at Bristol Myers Squibb, said the collaboration – announced on Monday – “is consistent with our strategy to diversify beyond immuno-oncology.”

BL-B01D1, a bispecific topoisomerase inhibitor-based ADC, is currently being investigated in a Phase I study for patients with metastatic or unresectable non-small-cell lung cancer. The first subject in the US arm of the trial was dosed in October. Earlier data on BL-B01D1 – including those detailed at this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting – demonstrated antitumour activity in patients with a range of solid tumours that had progressed after standard-of-care treatments.

Under the agreement, Bristol Myers Squibb will be responsible for global development of BL-B01D1, except in the US, where the companies will jointly work on the drug, and in China, where SystImmune will retain control. “BL-B01D1 adds yet another ADC to our diverse pipeline and helps strengthen our approach of matching the most appropriate therapeutic modality to areas of unmet medical need across solid tumour oncology,” Hirawat remarked.

Along with the upfront payment, SystImmune is eligible to receive up to $500 million in contingent near-term payments, as well as up to $7.1 billion in further milestones, including those linked to sales. Outside the US and China, SystImmune will receive a tiered royalty on net sales of BL-B01D1, while in the latter country, Bristol Myers Squibb will receive sales royalties.

Bristol Myers Squibb’s deal with SystImmune is the latest in the ADC space and follows hot on the heels of AbbVie’s agreement to acquire ImmunoGen for approximately $10.1 billion. Further, Merck & Co. recently paid Daiichi Sankyo $4 billion upfront, in a deal potentially worth as much as $22 billion, to advance a number of ADC candidates, while in March, Pfizer agreed to buy Seagen for around $43 billion to gain a number of ADCs.