BMS buys biologics partner, strengthens oncology
Therapeutics, as it continues its transformation into a
biopharmaceutical company and strengthens its oncology pipeline.
The acquisition agreement will speed up BMS' considerable push into the biologics arena that is becoming a key cornerstone in the company's growth strategy, as evidenced by its $750m investment in a new biologics manufacturing facility in Massachusetts. The Adnexus acquisition will cost BMS a net purchase price of $415m as well as an additional $75m if certain undisclosed development and regulatory milestones are reached. News of the acquisition followed Adnexus' announcement that it had registered for an initial public offering (IPO) on Friday. The deal continues the trend of big pharmaceutical companies acquiring biotech firms. Several high profile deals have been signed over the last year, with AstraZeneca spending a princely €11.5bn to acquire MedImmune, Schering-Plough investing €11bn to buy Organon and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) buying Domantis for for €230m. Prior to the agreement BMS was already collaborating with Adnexus on the development of several new targeted biologics belonging to a new class of targeted biologics known as adnectins, which are derived from the well-known protein fibronectin. "Bringing Adnexus into the BMS family builds upon a successful and productive collaboration between the two companies in oncology and is an important step in accelerating the strategic transformation of our pharmaceutical business to a biopharma business model," said Jim Cornelius, CEO of BMS. The biologics are developed using the company's PROfusion protein design engine which can engineer trillions of protein variations at once. "Adnectins and the PROfusion technology are among the most exciting next generation biologics platforms currently in development," said Dr Elliott Sigal, executive vice president and chief scientific officer at BMS. "By uniting Adnexus' innovation and discovery expertise with our internal capabilities in oncology and other therapeutic areas, we intend to fuel the company's biologic growth strategy and importantly, deliver innovative new treatment options for patients." The deal will give BMS access to Adnexus' lead compound Angiocept (CT-322) which is currently in Phase I trials as an anticancer agent, as well as six other compounds either in the product optimisation or the lead discovery stage - three of which BMS was already collaborating with Adnexus on. Angiocept is an antagonist of the VEGFR-2 (vascular endothelial cell growth factor receptor-2) pathway and inhibits tumour angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels in tumours, which is vital for continued tumour growth. The VEGFR-2 activating proteins, VEGF-A, VEGF-C and VEGF-D have been shown to be over-expressed in cancer patients, stimulating blood vessel growth. The company believes that Angiocept is the "only pure antagonist of all protein activators in the VEGFR-2 pathway and is specific for the VEGFR-2 receptor, potentially avoiding off-target side effects". In addition, the company claim that it is the smallest anti-angiogenic biologic, which may potentially improve tissue distribution. The company is currently planning multiple Phase II trials for the first quarter of 2008 to asses the applicability of Angiocept to a wide range of cancers. Adnexus and BMS have been collaborating on the development of another three oncology drugs, BMS-ATI 1 (formerly ATI-002) and BMS-ATI 2, which are both in the product optimisation stage, as well as BMS-ATI 3 in the lead discovery stage. The company is also developing an interleukin-12 (IL-12) antagonist (ATI-003) for autoimmune diseases, which is in the product optimisation stage. Also in the pipeline in the lead discovery stage is a musculoskeletal therapy ATI-004 and a neurodegenerative disease therapy, ATI-005.
