July 5, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb today acquired Stockholm, Sweden-based Cormorant Pharmaceuticals in a deal that could hit $520 million.
BMS bought all of Cormorant’s outstanding capital stock. The deal includes upfront and near term contingent milestone payments that could hit $95 million. Various development and regulatory milestone payments could reach $425 million.
As part of the acquisition, BMS acquires full rights to Cormorant’s HuMax-IL8 antibody program and its lead candidate, HuMax-IL8. HuMax-IL8 is in Phase I/II trials, and is a monoclonal antibody that is targeted against interleukin-8 (IL-8). IL-8 is a molecule expressed by numerous solid tumors, which suppresses the immune system, allowing the cancer cells to “hide” from the body’s defenses.
HuMax-IL8 was acquired by Cormorant in 2012 from Danish company Genmab .
“We believe combination therapy will be foundational to delivering the potential for long-term survival for patients,” said Francis Cuss, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s executive vice president and chief scientific officer, in a statement, “and the opportunity to develop the HuMax-IL8 antibody program, together with our broad immuno-oncology pipeline, enables us to accelerate the next wave of potentially transformational immunotherapies.”
IL-8 is likely to strengthen BMS’s immuno-oncology portfolio, which is strong as it is. The company’s Opdivo has received Breakthrough Therapy Designations for many indications, including previously treated recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, Hodgkin lymphoma after autologous stem cell transplant and brentuximab-vedotin failed, as well as for previously treated advanced melanoma, previously treated non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer, and previously treated advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
On June 27, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Opdivo Breakthrough Therapy Designation for the treatment of unresectable locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma that has progressed on or after a platinum-based chemotherapy regimen.
Opdivo is a PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor. It binds to the checkpoint receptor PD-1, which is expressed on activated T-cells, and blocks the binding of PD-L1 and PD-L2, which prevents the PD-1 pathway’s suppressive signaling on the immune system. Although the targets appear to be different, Opdivo and IL-8 are fundamentally doing the same thing, making it harder for cancer cells to evade the immune system.
Although the company did not specifically say whether it plans to study IL-8 in combination with Opdivo or other cancer drugs, Cuss’s comment regarding combination therapy suggests that’s very possible.
“Bristol-Myers Squibb is the ideal company to maximize the potential of both Cormorant and the HuMax-IL8 program, and bring hope to more patients,” said Maarten de Chateau, chief executive officer of Cormorant, in a statement. “Bristol-Myers Squibb is the leader in the immuno-oncology field, with deep clinical development and regulatory expertise, and an established commercial infrastructure to deliver important new therapies to patients quickly. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s rich pipeline of clinical candidates and approved products provides even more opportunity for potential therapeutic synergy when coupled with HuMax-IL8.”
BMS continues to climb. Shares are currently trading for $73.78, up from a year low on Feb. 2, 2016 of $58.87.
