Bristol-Myers Squibb Company BMY announced that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with UCLA under its Immuno-Oncology Rare Population Malignancy (I-O RPM) research program. The company will conduct a range of early-phase studies with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Bristol-Myers is focused on expanding its immuno-oncology portfolio and is highly active on the deal signing/acquisition front. In Oct 2015, the company entered into an exclusive worldwide license and collaboration agreement with Five Prime Therapeutics FPRX for the development and commercialization of the latter’s colony stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) antibody program, including FPA008 (phase I), for immunology and oncology indications.
Apart from this, Bristol-Myers acquired Flexus Biosciences for $1.25 billion and collaborated with Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. RIGL in a deal worth more than $339 million, all to bolster its immuno-oncology pipeline.
Apart from this, Bristol-Myers has been aggressively inking deals with health care companies like Eli Lilly LLY and others to study its high-profile immuno-oncology drug, Opdivo, to be used either alone or in combination with other therapies in multiple tumor types. The drug generated revenues of $305 million in the third quarter of 2015 compared with $122 million in the previous quarter. The company continues to work on label expansion of the drug.
As licensing agreements and acquisitions in the highly lucrative immuno-oncology space continue to attract attention, we expect to see more of such deals over the coming months.
Bristol-Myers currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Eli Lilly is another well-placed stock in the health care sector. It carries the same Zacks Rank as Bristol-Myers.
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