Bristol-Myers Squibb Company BMY entered into an agreement with an immuno-oncology company, Neon Therapeutics. As per the terms on the collaboration, the companies will evaluate the combination of Neon Therapeutics’ proprietary personalized neoantigen vaccine, NEO-PV-01, and Bristol-Myers programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor, Opdivo.
The companies plan to conduct a phase Ib study to evaluate the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of NEO-PV-01 in patients receiving Opdivo in melanoma, smoking-associated non-small cell lung cancer, and bladder cancer. The study will also evaluate neoantigen-specific immune responses in peripheral blood and tumor tissue, as well as other indicators of immune response such as PD-L1 expression. The study is expected to be initiated in 2016.
Apart from this, Bristol-Myers has been aggressively inking deals with other health care companies like Eli Lilly and Company LLY 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. Bristol-Myers continues to work on label expansion of the drug to boost sales.
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). A couple of other well-ranked stocks in the health care sector are Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ACHN and Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated CORT, both sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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