Following the pharmaceutical giant’s intentions to home in on its immunology portfolio, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has teamed up with private investment firm Bain Capital to launch a new biopharma company, NewCo.
The all-new, independent biopharmaceutical company will primarily focus on the development of novel therapies for autoimmune diseases, with five in-licensed candidates from BMS already in its portfolio.
To help NewCo find its footing, Bain Capital has pledged a $300m financing commitment, which will contribute to the company’s advancement of its preclinical, early- and late-stage clinical portfolio.
This includes preclinical and Phase I-ready candidates, which “target promising mechanisms” in autoimmune disease, such as the interleukin (IL) pathways.
NewCo will also deal with the continued development of its clinical candidates, including afimetoran — an oral therapy for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that’s currently being evaluated in a Phase II trial (NCT04895696) — as well as BMS-986322, which has already displayed proof-of-concept in a Phase II trial in patients with positive plaque psoriasis (NCT05730725).
The biopharma company will also take control of BMS-986326, BMS’ best-in-class IL2 fusion protein, which is in Phase I clinical trials for atopic dermatitis (AD) (NCT06248814) and SLE (NCT06013995).
Through its collaboration with Bain Capital, BMS will maintain a 20% equity stake in the company, with the opportunity for royalties and milestones associated with each licensed asset.
Immunology sector heats up
NewCo’s debut comes at a time when the biopharmaceutical market is rapidly gaining notoriety — with 19 next-generation immunotherapies gaining approval in 2024 alone, according to Pharmaceutical Technology’s parent company, GlobalData.
Although Merck’s star cancer drug Keytruda still holds the top spot in terms of immunology sales at $29bn in 2024 alone, the SLE market is also heating up, with GlobalData’s estimates suggesting the market was worth $2.66bn in 2024.
BMS and Merck are now neck and neck in the race to commercialise a toll-like receptor (TLR) 7/8 inhibitor, with afimetoran up against the latter’s enpatoran.
However, BMS hopes to gain an edge in this indication, as enpatoran recently failed to meet its primary endpoints in the Phase II WILLOW study (NCT05162586).
“NewCo’s assets hold significant potential, and we are confident that this new company will drive their development to ensure greater impact for patients,” noted BMS’ senior VP of business development, Julie Rozenblyum.
“Bain Capital is ideally suited to advance these candidates, unlocking their full potential,” she concluded.
