April 28, 2017
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
NEW YORK – Fresh off the heels of a deal with Biogen worth up to half-a-billion dollars, Bristol-Myers Squibb has opted to not exercise its option to acquire U.K.-based F - star Alpha.
In BMS’ quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it opted against the option. BMS walked away from the deal $75 million lighter. In its filing, the company did not provide much in the way of explanation for not triggering the deal. However, F-star Alpha released a statement that said BMS’ decision was made “due to a prioritization of opportunities across its oncology portfolio.”
In 2014, Bristol-Myers Squibb entered into an agreement with F-star Alpha for the company’s lead asset FS102. The asset, FS102 is a novel Phase 1 ready Human Epidermal growth factor Receptor 2 (HER2)-targeted therapy in development for the treatment of breast and gastric cancer among a well-defined population of HER2-positive patients who do not respond or become resistant to current therapies.
John Haurum, chief executive officer of F-star, said BMS’ walking away from the option will have no impact on the company’s pipeline development of bispecific antibodies in the area of immuno-oncology.“Our productive relationship with Bristol-Myers Squibb has generated valuable clinical data supporting the low immunogenic potential of Fcabs, as well as a favorable pharmacokinetic profile comparable to traditional antibodies,” Haurum said in a statement. “We appreciate the challenges of developing therapeutics in the highly - competitive HER-2 space, which we are factoring in to our assessment of how to best proceed with the FS102 program.”
FS102 is an Fcab or Fc-domain with antigen binding sites. In preclinical studies, F-star’s FS102 demonstrated potent anti-tumor activity, the company said. At the time the two companies struck the deal FS102 was said to work differently than current HER-2 therapies. The drug was designed to bind with a unique site on HER-2 and then induce programmed cell death in HER-2-positive tumor cells.
The drug is currently in Phase I trials in patients with breast and gastric cancer. The trial was begun while BMS was still considering the deal and patients will finish treatment according to protocols established by BMS clinical sites, F-star said in its statement.
With BMS walking away, all rights to FS102 remain with F-star. With BMS out, F-star will be looking for a new way to proceed with the program. Haurum did not specify whether or not the company will be looking to go it alone, or if F-star will be seeking a new developmental partner.
BMS reported a stronger-than-expected first quarter driven by sales of cancer drugs Opdivo and Yervoy as well as the blood thinner Eliquis. The three drugs saw increased sales growth of 60 percent, 25 percent and 50 percent respectively, BMS said in its filing.
