Bristol-Myers Squibb is planning to launch 8 drugs in 18 months for everything from cancer to multiple sclerosis. Here's what they are and how the $150 billion pharma giant plans to pull it off.
- The newly combined Bristol-Myers Squibb and Celgene is shaping up to be a formidable company in the pharmaceutical industry.
- It's now looking at eight upcoming drug launches over the next 12 to 18 months, Bristol-Myers Squibb chief commercial officer Chris Boerner told Business Insider.
- From treatments that use the body's cells to fight cancer to potential treatments for multiple sclerosis and psoriasis, here's what's ahead for the pharma giant.
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When Bristol-Myers Squibb picked up biotech giant Celgene in a deal valued at $74 billion, it formed a formidable company that could become the biggest cancer drugmaker in the world.
As a combined company it has the benefit of owning two sets of treatments that have been developed for various diseases, some of which are on the cusp of getting approval.
That's teeing BMS up for potentially eight drug launches over the next 12 to 18 months, Chris Boerner, BMS chief commercial officer told Business Insider. To get there, the Food and Drug Administration will have to vet how effective and safe each of the treatments are.
"This is almost an unprecedented set of opportunities for us," Boerner said.
The launches include expanding some of the uses for treatments like BMS's cancer immunotherapy combination Opdivo and Yervoy, as well as some cutting-edge cell therapy treatments for cancer and a treatment for relapsing multiple sclerosis.
Here are the 8 launches BMS hopes to have within the next 18 months
- Fedratinib, a treatment for myelofibrosis, The FDA approved fedratinib in August 2019 a few months before the Celgene acquisition was complete.
- Ozanimod, a treatment for relapsing multiple sclerosis. The drug, developed by Celgene, initially was shot down by the FDA in 2018 due to insufficient data, but the company re-submitted it for approval in 2019. It could be approved as soon as March.
- Luspatercept, a drug used to treat of anemia in people with the blood disorder beta thalassemia, which was approved in November 2019. It's also being developed to treat anemia in people with certain blood disorders that impact the production of red blood cells, which the FDA is expected to make a decision on by April.
- BMS's blockbuster cancer immunotherapy drugs Opdivo and Yervoy have been approved for a number of conditions. Next, the company is looking to expand into the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients who haven't received treatment before. The FDA is expected to make a decision by May 15.
- Liso-cel, often referred to as JCAR017, is a cell therapy to treat diffuse large B-cell lymphoma that Celgene added to its pipeline through the $9 billion acquisition of Juno Therapeutics in 2018. The treatment was submitted to the FDA in December 2019.
- TYK2, a treatment for psoriasis developed by BMS, came up as the reason the company had to divest Celgene's Otezla, which sold to Amgen in a $13.4 billion deal. The company is expecting data from the drug's late-stage trial in the first half of 2020.
- Ide-cel is another cell therapy that came in through the Celgene acquisition. It's being developed for the treatment of multiple myeloma alongside biotech company Bluebird Bio. BMS could submit the therapy to the FDA by the first half of 2020, according to a September 2019 presentation at an industry conference.
- CC-486, which is being developed as a maintenance treatment for patients living with acute myeloid leukemia. In September 2019 early results for the drug's phase 3 trial, Celgene said that the drug showed an improvement in overall survival compared to the group of patients who received placebo treatment.
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