Drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb has become the latest large drugmaker to team up with a maker of digital therapeutics, with an aim to create programs for cancer patients.
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Voluntis said Tuesday that it would work with New York-based BMS to use its Theraxium Oncology system to create and investigate the programs, centered on a mobile app for patients, with the goal of supporting management of symptoms and remote monitoring by healthcare providers. The app would use algorithms that would provide patients with real-time recommendations for self-management of symptoms related to therapy. The companies also plan to investigate how it would allow patients to communicate more effectively with their providers, keep track of their symptoms and receive personalized care plans.
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In a phone interview, Voluntis CEO Pierre Leurent declined to disclose which BMS drugs the partnership will focus on. “But this partnership is pretty broad, and our platform is applicable to a variety of assets,” he said. “The goal we have with this platform is to accommodate these different use cases.”
BMS has a diverse portfolio of oncology drugs, especially since its acquisition last year of Celgene. Key components of that portfolio include the PD-1 inhibitor Opdivo (nivolumab), the CTLA-4 inhibitor Yervoy (ipilimumab); and the immunomodulating drugs Thalomid (thalidomide), Revlimid (lenalidomide) and Pomalyst (pomalyst). Therapies in development include CAR-T cells like lisocabtagene maraleucel for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and idecabtagene vicleucel for multiple myeloma, the latter of which is under a partnership with bluebird bio.
Voluntis has existing partnerships focused on oncology with AstraZeneca and Novartis, as well as partnerships outside of oncology with AbbVie, Roche and Sanofi. The digital therapeutic it developed with AstraZeneca, eCO, is designed for women undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer in clinical trials of Lynparza (olaparib) combined with cediranib. Voluntis and AstraZeneca won a Prix Galien award in 2018.
Partnerships between biopharma and digital therapeutics companies have not all been smooth sailing. In October, Novartis terminated a partnership with Pear Therapeutics, while Proteus Digital Health and Otsuka Pharmaceuticals ended their partnership in January.
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However, COO Romain Marmot pointed to the company’s success with CoaguChek Link – its partnership with Roche on coagulation – as demonstrating its experience with operating on a large-scale basis.
“We have had to face our share of challenges, but we have learned through these collaborations what works and what doesn’t,” Marmot said in the phone interview.
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