Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has added to its oncology pipeline through an exclusive global licensing agreement with Janux Therapeutics.
This deal will see the pair co-develop a novel therapy for the treatment of solid tumours, and will set BMS back up to $850m – including $50m in upfront and near-term payments and $800m in regulatory, development and milestone payouts.
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While neither Janux nor BMS have shared specifics on the details of this partnership, Janux did note that the tumour-activated therapy will target a “validated solid tumour antigen”, which the biopharma says is commonly expressed across several types of cancer.
To fulfil its side of the deal, Janux will be responsible for the development of this therapy up to the investigational new drug (IND) submission, meaning the biotech will lead preclinical research on the candidate.
Once the drug is in the clinic, BMS will assume responsibility for its development and commercialisation – though Janux will assist BMS in the Phase I study.
If the drug makes it to market, Janux will also be eligible to receive tiered royalties on the therapy’s global product sales.
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By GlobalDataAccording to Janux’s president and CEO, David Campbell, the biopharma’s collaboration with BMS “validates the strength” of its tumour-activated platforms, which the company has used to create two of its tumour-activated T-cell engagers to the clinic.
This includes Janux’s prospective prostate cancer therapy, JANX007. It acts by targeting cancer cells expressing the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), and is currently in clinical development for metastatic, castration-resistant variants of the disease. In May 2025, Janux initiated the Phase Ib ENGAGER-PSMA-01 trial (NCT05519449) in this indication.
While the interim results of this study were presented positively by Janux, investors were spooked by the outcome, causing Janux’s stock value to drop more than 50% from $33.99 at market close on 1 December to $15.86 upon the news’ debut the following day.
Since then, the company’s share price has experienced a gradual downturn, teetering between $13 and $14 since the start of 2026. Following the debut of its licensing deal with BMS, Janux’s stock value did not immediately experience an increase, though it did see a slight uptick in the first two hours of market trading on 22 January.
BMS doubles down on dealmaking
The pharma industry is currently approaching one of the steepest patent cliffs in modern history, with GlobalData forecasting that only 4% of global drug sales will be patent protected by 2030 – a value that is significantly down from the 12% rate seen in 2022.
This trend may also impact BMS, as the company is currently contending with the looming patent expiries of its top selling assets, Opdivo (nivolumab) and Eliquis (apixaban), which could have a notable effect on future profits.
However, the New Jersey-based pharma’s CEO, Christopher Boerner, expressed his optimism for BMS’s financial future at the recent 2026 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, noting that the high-profile deals the company has closed in the past two years should alleviate this financial strain.
Boerner hopes to achieve this by doubling down on its core focus areas of oncology, haematology, cardiovascular, neurology and immunology.
It appears that oncology is one of BMS’s top areas of focus, as seven of the 16 deals BMS signed between 2024 and 2025 were either oncology-focused or had an oncology element, according to GlobalData’s Pharmaceutical Intelligence Center.
A notable deal example was the pharma’s Orbital Therapeutics buyout, which saw it hand over $1.5bn to gain access to the CAR-T specialist’s immunotherapy pipeline.
GlobalData is the parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology.
