Bristol-Myers Squibb Release: Investment And Planned Collaboration With GRAIL On Blood-Based Cancer Screening

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) announced today its equity investment and plans for a research collaboration with GRAIL Inc., a life sciences company whose mission is to detect cancer early when it potentially can be cured. By combining the power of high intensity cancer DNA sequencing, leading edge computer science and large clinical studies into a diagnostic platform, GRAIL aims to develop highly sensitive blood tests that detect cancer in its early stages to enable earlier intervention with targeted therapies.

As an investor, Bristol-Myers Squibb will gain early access to GRAIL’s comprehensive clinical trial databases that may serve as a rich resource for understanding tumor genomics. Additionally, Bristol-Myers Squibb and GRAIL have agreed to principal terms of a research collaboration that would enable Bristol-Myers Squibb to examine its clinical data using GRAIL’s analytic tools to inform research and development decisions, guide strategies to advance point of care companion diagnostics and potentially improve selection, care and management of patients through more targeted treatments.

“A key enabler of our Immuno-Oncology strategy is to leverage precision medicine to speed the selection of the most effective combinations of therapies for patients,” said Francis Cuss, MB BChir, FRCP, chief scientific officer, Bristol-Myers Squibb. “GRAIL’s future innovation potential is significant. Liquid biopsies hold the potential to support much earlier intervention and better define individual patient characteristics that may enhance treatment decisions.”

Bristol-Myers Squibb has a diverse early portfolio of Immuno-Oncology mechanisms it’s evaluating across a broad range of tumors and modalities, with 10 investigational I-O molecules in the clinic and ongoing registrational trials in 14 tumor types.

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 about Bristol-Myers Squibb, visit us at BMS.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

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 regarding 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 clinical studies discussed in this release will be successfully developed or approved for any of the uses described in this release. Forward-looking statements in this 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, 2016 in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our 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.