Bristol Myers Squibb is dropping at least $3.5 billion to jointly develop the bispecific antibody, which will race with Summit Therapeutics, Merck and Pfizer in the crowded PD-1/PD-L1xVEGF space.
Just over six months after BioNTech bought out its development partner Biotheus to acquire solid tumor bispecific BNT327, Bristol Myers Squibb is dropping $1.5 billion upfront plus another $2 billion in noncontingent payments and up to $7.6 billion more in milestones to join the German biotech, working together to develop and commercialize the drug candidate.
In doing so, BMS is “joining industry peers like Merck and Pfizer, as the company looks to accelerate their succession planning for Opdivo,” BMO Capital Markets analysts wrote in a note to investors Monday morning. “Today’s deal also reads as a positive for our coverage of BNTX, partnering with a big pharma name to help manage a broad development plan and potential commercialization.”
Targeting the checkpoint protein PD-L1 and blood vessel regulator VEGF-A, BNT327 joins a hot space. Last November, Merck paid $588 million for a LaNova Medicines asset in this class and Pfizer handed over $1.25 billion to 3SBio for a similar drug candidate. Meanwhile, Summit Therapeutics’ ivonescimab has already earned approval in China and last week released mostly promising global Phase III data that hint at the drug’s approvability in the U.S.
BNT327 is currently in Phase III trials as a treatment for two types of lung cancer. A Phase III trial in triple-negative breast cancer is due to start later this year. Data released by BioNTech earlier this year from a Phase II trial of the drug to treat small cell lung cancer showed a median overall survival of 16.8 months.
Under the terms of the agreement, BMS and BioNTech can work on BNT327 as monotherapy and in combination with other products. Both companies retain the right to combine the molecule with their own proprietary drugs, including BioNTech’s antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) candidates.
“We believe BNT327 has the potential to become a foundational immuno-oncology backbone, moving beyond single-mechanism checkpoint inhibitors and expanding into multiple solid-tumor indications,” Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, said in a statement.
As well as the upfront payment, the June 2 agreement will see Bristol Myers Squibb pay BioNTech $2 billion total through 2028. BioNTech will also be eligible to receive up to $7.6 billion in additional development, regulatory and commercial milestones. The companies will split evenly development and manufacturing costs and will equally share profits or losses.
“In our view, this deal makes a lot of sense for both companies,” BMO wrote. “Bristol gets access to BNTX’s next gen molecule with the potential to replace Opdivo (it’s still early however), and BioNtech gets access to Bristol’s global distribution footprint and a well of experience planning and running the development program for Opdivo.”
William Blair added that the deal aligns with BMS’ stated goals. “Overall, the deal aligns with the company’s strategy of bolstering its growth profile into the 2030s, but does carry clinical risk of achieving clinically meaningful overall survival benefit.”
Notably, BNT327 as well as PD-1/PD-L1xVEGF assets being developed by Merck, Pfizer and Summit all originated in China, which has proven to be a popular hunting ground for biopharma companies in this field.
