Recently, at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), Immatics announced the latest clinical data of IMA401, a TCR (T-cell binding receptor) bispecific molecular project targeting melanoma associated antigen 4/8. Unfortunately, it was also announced that Bristol Myers Squibb has chosen to return the product, and the previous down payment of $150 million will not be refunded. This is the third "return" of Bristol Myers Squibb since the second half of this year.
The returned product is still in the clinical stage of 1a/1b
In December 2021, Bristol Myers Squibb reached a licensing agreement with Immatics to develop and commercialize Immatics' TCR bispecific candidate project IMA401. Immutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering and developing T cells for cancer immunotherapy.
According to the terms of the agreement, Bristol Myers Squibb will pay Immatics a down payment of $150 million, up to $770 million in development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, and will also pay a double-digit tiered royalty based on IMA401 net sales. Immatics reserves the option to jointly fund the development of the US market in exchange for increased US market royalty fees and/or joint promotion of IMA401 in the US.
IMA401 is the most advanced candidate product in the TCR bispecific pipeline of Immatics, a TCR molecule with an extended half-life. One binding region targets melanoma associated antigen 4/8 (MAGEA4/8), which is highly prevalent in multiple solid tumors, while the other binding region binds and activates T cells. In preclinical concept validation studies, IMA401 demonstrated complete remission anti-tumor activity in various in vivo tumor models, including patient derived xenograft models.
Currently, the first phase 1a/1b human clinical trial of IMA401 is evaluating its efficacy in patients with recurrent/refractory solid tumors. Preliminary data suggests that the trial exhibits initial anti-tumor activity, persistent objective response (including confirmed response lasting over 13 months), and manageable tolerability in a large number of relapsed and/or refractory solid tumor patients who have received extensive treatment.
With the progress of clinical trials, the next step for Immatics is to leverage the potential of this product candidate and focus on recruiting indications with high MAGEA4/8 target expression, such as lung cancer and head and neck cancer patients, to seek optimized treatment options and explore incremental clinical benefits for patients by combining IMA401 with checkpoint inhibitors.
Continuous' returns' or related to strategic productivity plans
This is the third "return" of Bristol Myers Squibb since the second half of this year.
In July of this year, Bristol Myers Squibb terminated its global strategic partnership with Eisai on a FR alpha targeted ADC drug, farletuzumab ecteribulin (MORAb-202), based on a priority adjustment of its internal product portfolio. In June 2021, Bristol Myers Squibb and Eisai reached a cooperation agreement with a total amount of $3.1 billion for the development and sale of MORAb-202. At that time, Bristol Myers Squibb paid a prepayment of $650 million to Eisai, including $200 million for research and development expenses. After the termination of the cooperation, Eisai plans to refund the unused portion of the $200 million R&D expenses received under the cooperation agreement, and record the remaining portion as other income.
In early August, Bristol Myers Squibb returned ownership of the TIGIT bispecific antibody project to Agenus, which is currently in the early stages of testing for solid tumors. The cooperation between the two parties began in 2021. Bristol Myers Squibb has already paid a down payment of $200 million and subsequently made a total of $45 million in research and development milestone payments.
Within less than three months, Bristol Myers Squibb has returned three innovative drugs that were heavily introduced in 2021, involving a down payment of up to $800 million.
Continuous returns or related to strategic adjustments. On April 25th, Bristol Myers Squibb's financial report for the first quarter of 2024 showed that it will implement a comprehensive "strategic productivity plan", which includes organizational restructuring and optimizing product pipelines. In addition, Bristol Myers Squibb announced in its first quarter financial report that it plans to reduce costs by $1.5 billion through a large-scale restructuring by the end of 2025, and will lay off approximately 2200 employees worldwide, accounting for 6% of its total workforce.
New Beijing News reporter Zhang Zhaohui