BMS Joins the In Vivo Cell Therapy Chase With $1.5B Orbital Therapeutics Acquisition

Bristol Myers Squibb is securing an opportunity to compete in the next generation of cell therapies through the $1.5 billion acquisition of Orbital Therapeutics, a startup with a lead program nearing clinical testing in autoimmune disease and a platform technology that could yield additional therapeutic candidates.

BMS already has a place in cell therapies for cancer with Breyanzi and Abecma, which have approvals for treating certain blood cancers. Like other first-generation CAR T products, both are ex vivo therapies made by harvesting a patient’s T cells and modifying them in a lab to become targeted cancer fighters. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Orbital is part of a group of companies developing in vivo treatments that get cells in a patient’s body to manufacture the therapeutic cells.

Therapies based on messenger RNA don’t last long in the body. This type of RNA is linear, resembling a string. Soon after the mRNA delivers protein-making instructions, enzymes in the body go after the ends of that string, breaking it down. Orbital’s cell therapies use circular RNA, a closed loop that does not have ends exposed to RNA-degrading enzymes. Circular RNA should last longer in the body.

Lead Orbital program OTX-201 uses a lipid nanoparticle to deliver circular RNA to T cells. This genetic cargo programs the T cell to express a chimeric antigen receptor that targets a cell surface protein called CD19. This protein is highly expressed on B cells, a type of immune cell associated with many autoimmune diseases. OTX-201 is currently undergoing the preclinical testing to support an investigational new drug application.

“In vivo CAR T represents a novel treatment approach that could redefine how we treat autoimmune diseases,” Robert Plenge, executive vice president, chief research officer, BMS, said in a prepared statement. “This acquisition enhances our robust cell therapy research platform and provides an opportunity to advance a potential best-in-class therapy designed to deplete autoreactive B cells and reset the immune system.”

Orbital traces its roots to Beam Therapeutics, a developer of ex vivo and in vivo gene-editing therapies based on the company’s base-editing technology. Cambridge-based Beam also had technologies for designing and manufacturing mRNA. In 2023, Orbital spun out of Beam with licenses to those technologies and $270 million from a Series A financing led by Arch Venture Partners.

Under the terms of the acquisition agreement announced Friday, BMS will pay $1.5 billion in cash upon the deal’s close. It’s the latest and largest big pharma M&A move this year to secure a place in the race to develop in vivo cell therapies for autoimmune disorders. In March, AstraZeneca agreed to pay $425 million to buy EsoBiotec; another $575 million is tied to the achievement of milestones. Three months later, AbbVie agreed to pay up to a $2.1 billion deal to acquire Capstan Therapeutics. In August, Gilead Sciences joined the in vivo cell therapy chase with its $350 million acquisition of Interius Bio.