Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) is joining forces with BioNTech in a deal that could surpass $11bn as the two drugmakers look to take on the dominance of MSD’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in solid tumour treatment.
The deal will see BMS partner with BioNTech on a bispecific antibody candidate, dubbed BNT327, of which the latter company is currently developing.
BMS will pay an upfront cost of $1.5bn, as well as $2bn in non-contingent anniversary payments through 2028. In addition, BioNTech will be eligible to receive up to $7.6bn in development, regulatory and commercial milestones. This means the transaction value could reach $11.1bn in total.
The agreement, set against the backdrop of the ongoing 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, will mean BMS and BioNTech jointly share development and manufacturing costs on a 50:50 basis, along with any profits if the drug reaches market.
Shares in BioNTech opened 0.6% higher at market open but surged to highs of $113.03 by mid-morning on the Nasdaq, giving a share price increase of 15% compared to previous market close. The German-headquartered company, which originally gained control of BNT327 as part of an $800m acquisition of China-based biotech Biotheus in November 2024, has a market cap of $26.5bn.
BNT327 inhibits two proteins that form the backbone of targets in oncology therapeutics – programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A). These two mechanisms have been used in cancer drugs for decades, but no pharma company has managed to win approval for a single treatment that combines the two.
The race is currently led by ivonescimab, developed by Akeso and Summit Therapeutics, a bispecific antibody that beat MSD’s blockbuster immunotherapy Keytuda in a Phase III lung cancer trial (NCT05899608). Keytruda, a PD-1 inhibitor, is the dominant drug in the oncology space, having generated nearly $30bn in global sales in 2024.
BMS and BioNTech are now contestants in a fast-moving clinical arena that looks to go beyond traditional single-mechanism checkpoint inhibitors. Pfizer and MSD are also both developing respective candidates as they eye market share in the future.
"We believe BNT327 has the potential to become a foundational immuno-oncology backbone, moving beyond single-mechanism checkpoint inhibitors and expanding into multiple solid-tumour indications,” said BioNTech’s CEO Ugur Sahin.
BMS’s CEO Christopher Boerner said that BNT327 is “an asset with significant potential for transforming the standard of care for patients with solid tumours.”
BioNTech is currently evaluating the candidate in multiple trials – more than 1,000 patients have been treated with BNT327 to date. This includes Phase III trials for the treatment of extensive stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Data from a Phase II trial (NCT06712355) in ES-SCLC patients demonstrated the drug’s potential, with BNT327 achieving a median overall survival (OS) of 16.8 months. This compared to a benchmark median OS of 12.3 months in patients taking Roche’s Tecentriq (atezolizumab) plus chemotherapy.
A further late-stage trial in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is planned to start by the end of 2025.
