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Endpoints ArticleBristol Myers breaks the bank on Eisai's folate receptor ADC drug, laying out more than $3B+ for rights Kyle Blankenship Managing Editor For years, innovation in oncology has been a crapshoot with Big Pharma — the whales at the table — dropping the big bucks for the key to the next generation of tumor fighters. Bristol Myers Squibb hasn’t exactly made a name for being an innovator in the space, but that doesn’t mean it won’t splash in when it sees a potential winner. Now, with a massive check in hand, the drugmaker is willing to put its intuition to the test. Bristol Myers will pay $650 million — including $200 million to Eisai’s R&D efforts — for shared global rights to MORAb-202, the Japanese company’s first ADC, which is a combination between an in-house folate receptor antibody and chemotherapy eribulin, marketed as Halaven, the partners said Thursday. The deal includes the possibility of up to $2.45 billion in future milestones and royalties on ex-collaboration markets on top. It’s a shockingly huge deal for Bristol Myers for a drug that is only in Phase I studies in Japan and Phase I/II studies in the US for solid tumors. The partners will jointly develop and sell the drug in the US, EU, UK, Russia, Japan, China and a slew of Asian-Pacific countries. Meanwhile, Bristol Myers will hold exclusive rights in any areas outside of that range. Eisai will handle manufacturing and supply globally. This newest deal can’t be viewed without considering AstraZeneca’s extremely successful — and equally expensive — partnership with Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo for HER2-targeted ADC Enhertu and investigational TROP2-directed ADC datopotomab DXd. Back in early 2019, AstraZeneca shelled out $1.35 billion upfront for collaboration rights to Enhertu, which went on to score an approval in HER2-positive breast cancer later that year. The overall deal included up to $5.5 billion in future milestones. In 2020, the partners followed that up with a deal for the TROP2 drug, including $1 billion in upfront, staged payments and up to $4 billion in follow-on milestones. The biggest difference between Bristol Myers and AstraZeneca’s massive down payments is the quality of the clinical results. Enhertu, at least, had a wealth of mid-stage data to back its case with a range of pivotal trials already on the slate. Meanwhile, Eisai turned out Phase I data at this year’s AACR showing one complete response, nine partial responses and eight stable disease among 22 patients with solid tumors. But Bristol Myers, looking for a pipeline refresh in a big way post-Celgene merger is apparently willing to spend the big bucks on an ADC flyer that could unlock a suddenly booming market. “This global collaboration with Eisai is an important strategic fit for Bristol Myers Squibb as it extends our leading position in oncology with a differentiated asset that complements our broad solid tumor portfolio and leverages our deep internal development expertise,” Bristol Myers CEO Giovanni Caforio said in a statement. “We look forward to collaborating with Eisai as we work to bring this potential treatment option to patients in need as soon as possible.” ADCs are nothing new to oncology R&D, and only recently have the third generation of the drugs shown meaningful promise in tackling solid tumors without the onerous side effects endemic to the field. Enhertu has played a big part in that resurgence with a third-line breast cancer nod and eyes on gastric cancer and other solid tumor indications. Meanwhile, Bristol Myers’ push into next-gen oncology follows two recent CAR-T approvals that came over as part of the giant drugmaker’s acquisition of Celgene in 2019. Both those drugs, targeting CD19 and BCMA, were late entries into the field, but the drugmaker has worked diligently to carve out a foothold over long-term competitors in Novartis and Gilead’s Kite. Earlier this month, the drugmaker rolled out data for CD19 CAR-T Breyanzi showing benefit over standard of care in second-line B cell lymphoma patients — a minor breakthrough on the path to bring CAR-Ts into earlier line settings. Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct an error. Eisai read out Phase I data for MORAb-202 at AACR in April. AUTHOR Kyle Blanke |
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