Bristol Myers Squibb gains rights to SystImmune ADC candidate for up to $8.4bn

Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and SystImmune have announced an exclusive licence and collaboration agreement worth up to $8.4bn for one of SystImmune’s cancer treatments, BL-B01D1.

The bi-specific topoisomerase inhibitor-based antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targets both epidermal growth factor receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 3 and is currently in early-stage development to treat metastatic or unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

ADCs are a new class of cancer therapies designed to precisely target and kill tumour cells while sparing healthy ones.

Data from earlier clinical studies of the candidate has demonstrated "promising anti-tumour activity" in patients with a range of solid tumours that had progressed after standard of care treatments, including NSCLC and breast cancer, AZ said.

“Recent BL-B01D1 trials have shown broad potential across different solid tumours as well as a manageable safety profile,” said Dr Yi Zhu, chief executive officer of SystImmune, adding that the collaboration is "an exciting step forward in delivering potential anti-tumour medicines to patients worldwide”.

Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will jointly develop and commercialise BL-B01D1 in the US, while SystImmune will retain exclusive rights in Mainland China and BMS will gain an exclusive licence in the rest of the world.

In exchange, BMS will pay SystImmune $800m upfront and up to $500m in contingent near-term payments, with SystImmune also eligible to receive additional up to $7.1bn based on the achievement of certain development, regulatory and sales performance milestones.

Samit Hirawat, executive vice president, chief medical officer, drug development at BMS, said: “SystImmune’s 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.

"We look forward to working with SystImmune to advance BL-B01D1 in hopes of offering a differentiated treatment option for patients in need.”

The agreement comes just over a month after BMS said it would be acquiring an experimental blood cancer therapy from Orum Therapeutics for up to $180m.

The candidate, ORM-6151, is an anti-CD33 antibody-enabled GSPT1 degrader that has been given clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration for early-stage testing in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia or high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes.

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