Bristol Myers enters up to $920 mln deal with Immatics for cancer drug

Immatics

14/12/2021 12:00

Dec 14 (Reuters) - Drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb  BMY.N 
has agreed to spend up to $920 million for global exclusive
rights to an experimental immunotherapy developed by Immatics NV
 IMTX.O , the companies said on Tuesday.
     Under the agreement, the companies will co-develop the
therapy, IMA401. Cancer-focused drug developer Immatics will
receive an upfront payment of $150 million, up to $770 million
in milestone payments and tiered double-digit royalty payments
on net sales of the therapy. 
    IMA401, currently in pre-clinical development, belongs to a
category of treatments that aim to activate T-cells, a part of
the body's immune system, against cancer cells.
    It is geared to target proteins prevalent in many types of
solid tumors, including a type of non-small cell lung cancer as
well as head and neck cancer.
    "Bristol Myers Squibb's global clinical development and
commercialization capabilities in oncology make them the ideal
partner for the further development of IMA401," said Carsten
Reinhardt, chief development officer at Immatics.
    The deal builds on Immatics' collaboration with Celgene in
2019 to develop new cell therapies for multiple cancers. Bristol
Myers completed its $74 billion acquisition of Celgene later
that year.
    Bristol Myers has been trying to expand its cancer pipeline
as its blockbuster immunotherapy, Opdivo, faces stiff
competition from Merck & Co's  MRK.N  rival treatment Keytruda.
    In June, the drugmaker had inked an up to $3.1 billion
agreement with Eisai Co  4523.T  to jointly develop and market
an experimental drug for the treatment of solid tumors. In May,
Bristol Myers had entered into a $1.56 billion deal to
exclusively develop and market Agenus Inc's  AGEN.O 
experimental cancer drug.     
    
    

 (Reporting by Amruta Khandekar; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)
 ((Amruta.Khandekar@thomsonreuters.com;))