Bristol-Myers Squibb and Oncolys BioPharma Enter Global Licensing Agreement

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) and Oncolys BioPharma Inc.have signed a definitive agreement.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) and Oncolys BioPharma Inc., a privately held biotechnology company based in Japan, have signed a definitive agreement under which Bristol-Myers Squibb will acquire exclusive worldwide rights to manufacture, develop and commercialize festinavir, a once-a-day, orally available nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) in Phase II development for HIV.

Under the terms of the agreement, Oncolys may receive up to $286 million including upfront, development, regulatory and sales milestone payments. Oncolys is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on the worldwide product sales.

"Bristol-Myers Squibb has been dedicated to helping patients prevail over HIV for more than two decades and is committed to the ongoing discovery, development and delivery of medicines to fight HIV/AIDS globally," said Brian Daniels, senior vice president, Development. "The profile of festinavir offers the possibility of improvement in the safety