Bristol-Myers Squibb is calling it quits with its virology R&D program – a move that undoubtedly will impact its early stage scouting and acquisition efforts.
This largely impacts its early work in hepatitis B and HIV therapies, though it won’t affect the virology therapies currently in development or on the market. It’s cutting 100 jobs in the process, and shut down two sites, Bristol-Myers said in a statement.
It’s interesting timing: Just two weeks ago, I spoke with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Donnie McGrath – a VP tasked with seeking out targets for acquisition and building out the pharma giant’s R&D pipeline.
To an audience of venture investors and small life sciences companies, McGrath spoke of Bristol-Myers’ obvious strength in cancer research. However, he said the company was interested in growing other branches – including virology – though Bristol-Myers had an admittedly “narrow” scope.
He highlighted five areas that Bristol-Myers is actively pursuing: Virology, heart failure, fibrosis, genetically driven rare disease and immunoscience. Strike virology from the list – but the rest remain open for expansion.
The pharma giant has recently found success in cancer immunotherapy: Consider the recent success of Opdivo, which was recently forecasted to have a 2019 revenue of $5.68 billion.
As Bloomberg points out, Bristol-Myers also recently agreed to buy Flexus Biosciences and Rigel Pharmaceuticals – deals valued at $1.6 billion – to increase its cancer therapeutic pipeline.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Virology treatments account for about 30 percent of Bristol-Myers’ first quarter revenue – about $1.2 billion. Oncology therapies accounted only for about 22 percent, or $905 million.
Pharma Times points out this shakeup has been in the works since 2013.
The company will close two of its research centers – one in Waltham, Massachusetts and the other in Wallingford, Connecticut – and relocate up to 200 scientists to a new site in Cambridge that’s expected to open in 2018.
