PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Bristol-Myers
Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) today announced that it has
entered into two individual agreements with ViiV Healthcare, a global
HIV company, to divest its pipeline of investigational HIV medicines
consisting of a number of programs at different stages of discovery,
preclinical and clinical development. Under these agreements, ViiV will
pay to Bristol-Myers Squibb upfront payments totaling $350 million with
potential development and regulatory milestone payments of up to $518
million for the clinical assets and up to $587 million for the discovery
and pre-clinical programs. Once products are approved and
commercialized, ViiV Healthcare will pay tiered royalties. Additionally,
ViiV Healthcare will pay sales-based milestone payments of up to $750
million for each of the clinical assets and up to $700 million for each
of the discovery and pre-clinical programs. Completion of the
divestiture is expected during the first half of 2016, subject to
customary closing conditions, including clearance under the
Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.
These transactions are consistent with the evolution of Bristol-Myers
Squibb’s strategic focus, including the decision to discontinue its
discovery efforts in virology announced in June.
“Bristol-Myers Squibb has been committed to the HIV community for almost
three decades, contributing significantly to the science and to the
transformation in the treatment of this disease,” said Francis
Cuss, MB BChir, FRCP, chief scientific officer, Bristol-Myers
Squibb. “Given the remaining unmet medical needs in HIV, Bristol-Myers
Squibb continued its discovery of novel treatment approaches and the
agreements with ViiV Healthcare now put the development of these
potentially first-in-class compounds into the hands of a global
specialist company exclusively dedicated to finding new medicines for
people living with HIV.”
The Bristol-Myers Squibb clinical stage HIV pipeline includes an
attachment inhibitor (BMS-663068), currently being investigated in Phase
III as a therapeutic option for heavily treatment-experienced patients,
and a maturation inhibitor (BMS-955176), currently being investigated in
Phase IIb development for treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced
patients. Both investigational medicines have novel modes of action and
if approved would be first to market in their respective classes. The
pipeline also includes active preclinical and discovery stage programs.
ViiV Healthcare will manage and resource the acquired development
programs and Bristol-Myers Squibb will continue to provide, at ViiV
Healthcare’s expense, certain research and development support during a
transitional period. Approximately twenty Bristol-Myers Squibb employees
are being offered the opportunity to transfer to ViiV Healthcare.
The agreements with ViiV Healthcare do not impact Bristol-Myers Squibb’s
marketed HIV medicines, including Reyataz, Evotaz, Sustiva
and Atripla. Bristol-Myers Squibb remains committed to the
commercialization of these products and to those patients who rely on
these medicines.
About Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission
is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help
patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information, please
visit www.bms.com or
follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bmsnews.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” as that term
is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
regarding the research, development and commercialization of
pharmaceutical products. Such forward-looking statements are based on
current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties,
including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and
could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from
current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed.
Among other risks, there can be no guarantee that the divestiture will
be completed, or if it is completed, that it will close within the
anticipated time period. In addition, the compounds described in this
release are subject to all the risks inherent in the drug development
process, and there can be no assurance that the development of these
compounds will be successful. Forward-looking statements in the press
release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that
affect Bristol-Myers Squibb's business, particularly those identified in
the cautionary factors discussion in Bristol-Myers Squibb's Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, its Quarterly
Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K. Bristol-Myers
Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking
statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or
otherwise.
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Source: Bristol-Myers Squibb