Being BioPharma
Biopharmaceuticals and the String of Pearls Strategy
As a fully focused and energized BioPharma leader, Bristol-Myers Squibb is committed to helping patients prevail against serious diseases. To accelerate the discovery and development of new therapies, the company is complementing and enhancing its internal capabilities with a suite of innovative alliances, partnerships and acquisitions with small and large companies.
We call this our String of Pearls strategy.
KAI scientist Zhen Jin examines tissue samples as part of a collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb. This collaboration is part of our String of Pearls strategy.
In October 2007, with the purchase of Adnexus Pharmaceuticals, the company launched its String of Pearls initiative. Each transaction is highly strategic, and builds upon an existing strength within our R&D organization or creates a new area of expertise. Either way, the ultimate goal is to offer physicians and patients new treatment options in areas of serious disease with significant unmet medical need.
Already, this string of new technologies, alliances and acquisitions – including novel and first-in-class small molecules and biologic compounds in clinical development – has strengthened the pipeline, extended our relationships with existing partners and potentially enhanced our ability to help future patients prevail over serious disease.
Thanks in part to our String of Pearls strategy, our pipeline continues to expand. In 2009, we increased the number of compounds in Exploratory and Full Development by nearly 40 percent. About one-third of our compounds in development are biologics.
String of Pearls represents a different way of doing business for the company, and it differentiates Bristol-Myers Squibb from others in the industry.
Our full array of 10 pearls encompasses many of our key disease areas, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, immunology, neuroscience and virology:
- Adnexus Therapeutics
- KAI Pharmaceuticals
- Kosan Biosciences
- PDL BioPharma
- Exelixis
- ZymoGenetics
- Nissan Chemical Industries and Teijin Pharma
- Medarex Inc.
- Alder Biopharmaceuticals
- Allergan
Our Pearls: A Closer Look
In October 2007, the company acquired Adnexus Therapeutics, which has developed a proprietary and novel class of biologics called Adnectins™. These are proteins designed to either block or stimulate therapeutic targets of interest to fight diseases across a broad range of therapeutic areas. Adnexus has advanced its lead compound into Phase II clinical development for a serious type of brain cancer. In addition, Adnexus has developed a proprietary next-generation biologics platform called PROfusion™, which can engineer trillions of protein variations at one time, rapidly generating highly differentiated medicines.
In May 2008, Bristol-Myers Squibb and KAI Pharmaceuticals announced an agreement for the global development and commercialization of a novel investigational medication for the emergency room treatment of acute heart attack. This compound is in Phase IIb clinical development and has been granted Fast Track status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration because of its potential to treat life-threatening disease and to address an unmet medical need.
In June 2008, Bristol-Myers Squibb acquired Kosan Biosciences, a cancer therapeutics company focused on advancing two new classes of anticancer agents, and potentially neurodegenerative disorders. This acquisition brings a library of novel anticancer compounds called Hsp90 inhibitors, including tanespimycin, a potential first-in-class medicine for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Tanespimycin is currently in Phase III clinical development.
In August 2008, Bristol-Myers Squibb and PDL BioPharma announced an agreement for the global development and commercialization of elotuzumab, a potential first-in-class biologic approach for the treatment of multiple myeloma. “This collaboration further strengthens our pipeline of agents targeting hematologic malignancies,” says Francis Cuss, M.D., senior vice president, Discovery and Exploratory Clinical Research, “which includes SPRYCEL® (dasatinib) and tanespimycin.”
In December 2008, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Exelixis entered into a global collaboration covering two novel cancer programs: an investigational anticancer compound currently in Phase III clinical development for medullary thyroid cancer, and a compound in Phase I clinical development for the treatment of patients with advanced solid tumor malignancies. This agreement again brings together two companies that have a nine-year history of collaboration and discovering and developing new medicines for patients with cancer and cardiovascular disease.
“Exelixis and Bristol-Myers Squibb are working toward a shared vision of maximizing the potential of these compounds to benefit patients who suffer from numerous types of cancer,” says George Scangos, president and CEO of Exelixis.
In January 2009, Bristol-Myers Squibb and ZymoGenetics announced a global collaboration for PEG-interferon lambda, a novel interferon currently in Phase Ib clinical development for the treatment of hepatitis C. “This agreement offers the possibility of improvements in combination treatment for hepatitis C, and makes it an ideal fit with our emerging portfolio of small molecule antivirals,” says Cuss.
In March 2009, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced a global collaboration with Nissan Chemical Industries and Teijin Pharma for the development and commercialization of an investigational compound in Phase I clinical development in Japan for patients with atrial fibrillation. “There is significant unmet medical need in the treatment of atrial fibrillation,” says Cuss. “This collaboration provides us with the opportunity to leverage our company’s deep expertise in helping patients prevail over cardiovascular disease, and further strengthens and expands our pipeline in cardiovascular adjacencies.”
In August 2009, Bristol-Myers Squibb acquired Medarex, Inc. for $2.4 billion, the largest String of Pearls acquisition to date. The acquisition significantly expanded Bristol-Myers Squibb's oncology and immunology pipeline, positioned the company for long-term leadership in biologics and allowed it to gain full rights for ipilimumab, an investigational compound for metastatic melanoma.
In November 2009, we entered into a global collaboration with Alder Biopharmaceuticals to develop and commercialize a novel investigational biologic for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
In January 2010, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Allergan, Inc. announced a global agreement for the development and commercialization of an oral medication for the treatment of neuropathic pain.
Picking our Pearls … the BioPharma Way
Bristol-Myers Squibb has a well-defined strategy. As a BioPharma leader, we are uniquely combining the strengths of a traditional pharmaceutical company – such as its global reach and integrated commercial and manufacturing capabilities – with the advantages of agility and entrepreneurial thinking that are the hallmarks of successful biotech companies.
A key element of the BioPharma model is a streamlined and flexible approach to business.
“The quest to bring new medicines to patients is a long and expensive one, and we recognize that we can’t do everything ourselves,” says Elliott Sigal, M.D., Ph.D., chief scientific officer and president, R&D. “As a result, the company is constantly looking for selective transactions to expand our String of Pearls. At the same time, we are partnering some of our programs with other large companies – in a manner very similar to biotechnology companies – extending our commercial capabilities.”
The transactions with AstraZeneca and Pfizer are examples of this approach. In early 2007, Bristol-Myers Squibb entered into co-development and co-commercialization agreements with AstraZeneca and Pfizer for investigational compounds discovered by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s agreements with AstraZeneca involve ONGLYZA™ (saxagliptin), approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in adults, and dapagliflozin, an investigational compound for type 2 diabetes. With Pfizer, the collaboration involves apixaban, an anticoagulant being studied for the prevention and treatment of a broad range of venous and arterial thrombotic conditions.
The agreements with AstraZeneca and Pfizer include upfront and milestone payments to Bristol-Myers Squibb.
In short, the company’s BioPharma vision, articulated by the String of Pearls strategy, has transformed our way of doing business.
“We’ve modernized and reorganized the manner in which we identify, contact and secure relationships with outside third parties,” says Jeremy Levin, D.Phil, MB BChir., senior vice president of Strategic Transactions. “These transactions are highly strategic, targeted and fit with overall corporate strategy. The new organization leading this company wide effort is called the Strategic Transaction Group. This group incorporates elements from all parts of the company, including R&D, global marketing, legal, finance and human resources, all working together. The organization works directly for the Executive Committee of the company.” The result, says Levin, is that the execution of our transactions are highly efficient and can be more rapid.
Key to the success of the BioPharma strategy is a fundamental cultural change within the company. Bristol-Myers Squibb is becoming more agile, entrepreneurial and accountable. String of Pearls is helping to fuel that cultural change. As the company acquires biotech companies, technology and expertise, this culture is infused ever more deeply throughout the organization.
Anatomy of a Pearl
The Adnexus acquisition was the company’s first pearl, and in many ways serves as a model for the pearls that follow.
Founded in 2002 in Waltham, Massachusetts, Adnexus acquired a proprietary technology to produce a new class of protein-based drugs called Adnectins™. The company also acquired PROfusion™, a proprietary technology for engineering these versatile, easily produced proteins, creating the opportunity to rapidly generate highly differentiated medicines. With this combined technology, the company discovered and began to develop a promising drug candidate, a VEGFR-2 inhibitor, for the treatment of solid tumors. Adnexus initiated Phase I clinical trials with the VEGFR-2 inhibitor in 2006.
Bristol-Myers Squibb and Adnexus began a strategic alliance in February 2007 to discover, develop and commercialize Adnectin-based therapeutics for cancer-related targets. The relationship developed over the next several months, and in October 2007 Bristol-Myers Squibb bought Adnexus.
The acquisition has been a big win for both companies. “With the acquisition,” says John Edwards, president of Adnexus, “we have been able to accelerate the speed and breadth of our programs and technology development due to access to more resources, deep therapeutic biology and pharmacology expertise and supportive technology, including applied biotechnology and bioinformatics."
For Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Adnexus acquisition brought the company discovery and early development capabilities for rapidly creating unique variations of protein-based therapeutics, a compound in dearly clinical development and a shared commitment to helping patients prevail against serious disease.
“Adnexus had a really proud, lean and mean biotech culture, and they could do things extremely fast,” says Sigal. “We didn’t want to destroy that. In fact, we wanted to preserve that culture, and so over time we have allowed mutual respect to build up. And now we have an exchange not only of science but of cultural ideas and different ways of doing things.”
How do scientists at Adnexus like working with their new colleagues at Bristol-Myers Squibb? “It’s a fun and fast Adnectin biologic discovery relay race,” says Edwards. “We pass the baton back and forth, each taking advantage of our respective strengths.”
Positioning this first pearl to both preserve its biotech culture and leverage the strengths of Bristol-Myers Squibb is clearly paying off: The acquisition of Adnexus is seen as a business, scientific and cultural success. It’s also an important step forward – which is true of every pearl on our string – in moving Bristol-Myers Squibb forward as a BioPharma leader, and ultimately, in helping patients prevail.