Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) is making progress developing a new drug to assist the body’s immune system in its ability to find and attack cancer cells. The drug may prove especially effective fighting lung cancer.
Bristol-Myers, the farthest along of at least five companies pushing ahead with this cancer-targeting approach, received U.S. approval in March 2011 on a drug that attacks melanoma by unleashing the body’s T-cells to fend off the cancer. Now, early tests on a Bristol-Myers therapy affecting a different immune-system lever is showing promise against advanced lung tumors, tied to more than a quarter of U.S. cancer deaths yearly, as well as other deadly malignancies.
