BMS acquires Cormorant Pharmaceuticals

Gains full-rights to Cormorant’s HuMax-IL8 antibody program and lead asset HuMax-IL8 in Phase I/II development.

IL-8 is a protein expressed by many solid tumours within the tumour microenvironment that suppresses the immune system and increases the ability of tumours to metastasize. By targeting IL-8, HuMax-IL8 offers the potential to enhance immune response and increase the efficacy of existing cancer medicines through combination therapy. The rights to HuMax-IL8 were acquired by Cormorant from Genmab A/S in 2012 under an exclusive license agreement.

“We believe combination therapy will be foundational to delivering the potential for long-term survival for patients, and the opportunity to develop the HuMax-IL8 antibody program together with our broad immuno-oncology pipeline enables us to accelerate the next wave of potentially transformational immunotherapies,” said Francis Cuss, executive vice president and chief scientific officer, BMS.

“BMS is the ideal company to maximise the potential of both Cormorant and the HuMax-IL8 program, and bring hope to more patients,” said Maarten de Château, CEO, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals. “BMS is the leader in theiImmuno-oncology field, with deep clinical development and regulatory expertise, and an established commercial infrastructure to deliver important new therapies to patients quickly. BMS’s rich pipeline of clinical candidates and approved products provides even more opportunity for potential therapeutic synergy when coupled with HuMax-IL8.”

The transaction includes upfront and near term contingent milestone payments of up to US $95 million and additional contingent consideration of up to US $425 million upon the achievement by BMS of certain development and regulatory milestones.