NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY - News) announced today that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of privately held Amira Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a small-molecule pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and early development of new drugs to treat inflammatory and fibrotic diseases. As a result of the transaction, Amira has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb.
The acquisition of Amira Pharmaceuticals’ fibrosis program, including the lead asset AM152, an orally available lysophosphatidic acid 1 (LPA1) receptor antagonist which has completed Phase I clinical studies and is now poised for Phase IIa proof-of-confidence studies for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and systemic Sclerosis (SSc), or scleroderma, marks Bristol-Myers Squibb’s entrance into fibrotic diseases, an area of high unmet medical need which is complementary to its current therapeutic areas of focus. Bristol-Myers Squibb also has obtained Amira’s preclinical autotaxin program, which may be useful in the treatment of neuropathic pain and cancer metastases.
The transaction was originally announced on July 21, 2011, and has met all customary regulatory approval obligations.
About Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information, please visit http://www.bms.com or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bmsnews.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, relating to the acquisition of Amira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, and the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Among other risks, there can be no guarantee that the compounds described in this release will move from early stage development into full product development, that clinical trials of these compounds will support a regulatory filing, or that these compounds will receive regulatory approval or become commercially successful products. Forward-looking statements in the press release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect Bristol-Myers Squibb’s business, particularly those identified in the cautionary factors discussion in Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K. Bristol-Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Contact:
Bristol-Myers Squibb CompanyMediaJennifer Mauer, 609-252-6579jennifer.mauer@bms.comorInvestorsJohn Elicker, 609-252-4611john.elicker@bms.comorTeri Loxam, 609-252-3368teri.loxam@bms.com
