Princeton, NJ – As noted by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, “Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) and Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:FPRX) today announced that they have entered into an exclusive worldwide license and collaboration agreement for the development and commercialization of Five Prime’s colony stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) antibody program, including FPA008 which is in Phase 1 development for immunology and oncology indications. This agreement replaces the companies’ existing clinical collaboration agreement to evaluate the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of combining Opdivo (nivolumab), Bristol-Myers Squibb’s programmed-death 1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor, with FPA008 in six tumor types."
" “By blocking a key mediator of immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment, CSF1R inhibition with FPA008 represents a potentially important complementary immuno-oncology mechanism of action to the T-cell directed antibodies and co-stimulatory molecules in our pipeline,” said Francis Cuss, MB BChir, FRCP, executive vice president and chief scientific officer of Bristol-Myers Squibb. “This agreement, which builds upon our existing relationship with Five Prime in immuno-oncology, is another important example of our commitment to expanding our presence in this space and to researching novel combination regimens.”
“We believe this transformational collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb for our CSF1R antibody program represents the best of both worlds in terms of maximizing the potential of FPA008,” said Lewis T. “Rusty” Williams, M.D., Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Five Prime Therapeutics. “Bristol-Myers Squibb has undisputed leadership in the immuno-oncology landscape, deep clinical development and regulatory expertise, and an established commercial infrastructure to deliver important new therapies to patients. Bristol-Myers Squibb also has a rich pipeline of clinical candidates and approved products, a number of which may have therapeutic synergy when coupled with FPA008, given the potential of CSF1R inhibition to suppress the activity and survival of tumor associated macrophages. At the same time, Five Prime will continue to conduct trials in pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) and immuno-oncology with FPA008, which is a product of our proprietary protein platform and our discovery of IL-34, one of the two ligands for CSF1R that FPA008 blocks.” ”
For complete story and for further details click here: http://news.bms.com/press-release/rd-news/bristol-myers-squibb-enters-exclusive-worldwide-license-and-collaboration-agre.
“We believe this transformational collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb for our CSF1R antibody program represents the best of both worlds in terms of maximizing the potential of FPA008,” said Lewis T. “Rusty” Williams, M.D., Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Five Prime Therapeutics. “Bristol-Myers Squibb has undisputed leadership in the immuno-oncology landscape, deep clinical development and regulatory expertise, and an established commercial infrastructure to deliver important new therapies to patients. Bristol-Myers Squibb also has a rich pipeline of clinical candidates and approved products, a number of which may have therapeutic synergy when coupled with FPA008, given the potential of CSF1R inhibition to suppress the activity and survival of tumor associated macrophages. At the same time, Five Prime will continue to conduct trials in pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) and immuno-oncology with FPA008, which is a product of our proprietary protein platform and our discovery of IL-34, one of the two ligands for CSF1R that FPA008 blocks.” ”
For complete story and for further details click here: http://news.bms.com/press-release/rd-news/bristol-myers-squibb-enters-exclusive-worldwide-license-and-collaboration-agre.
