BMS Establishes Collaborative Immuno-Oncology Rare Population Malignancy (I-O RPM) Program in the US

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has announced the establishment of the Immuno-Oncology Rare Population Malignancy (I-O RPM) program in the US. The I-O RPM program is a multi-institutional initiative with academic-based cancer centers focused on the clinical investigation of immuno-oncology therapeutics as potential treatment options for patients with high risk, poor prognostic cancers, defined as a rare population malignancy. A rare population malignancy is a subpopulation within a higher incident disease population (e.g., BRCA 1 and 2 breast cancer). These patients have aggressive disease with an increased potential for early metastasis to multiple sites and/or are initially refractory or subject to early recurrences with conventional cancer therapies.

As part of the I-O RPM program, BMS, the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University (Lurie Cancer Center) and the Northwestern Medicine Developmental Therapeutics Institute (NMDTI) are pleased to announce that they have entered into a collaboration agreement. The Lurie Cancer Center and NMDTI will conduct a range of early phase clinical studies and BMS will fund positions within the NMDTI Developmental Therapeutics Fellowship program.

“Complementing our broad R&D programs through innovative collaborations with partners such as the Lurie Cancer Center and NMDTI has been a fundamental component to our commitment to leading advances in Immuno-Oncology,” said Laura Bessen, head of US Medical, BMS. “Co-operation between industry and research partners of this caliber offers a tremendous opportunity to further strengthen our scientific and clinical understanding of the role immunotherapies can play in the treatment of a broad range of cancers.”

“Immunotherapy is rapidly evolving and has an enormous promise for cancer patients. This collaborative effort with BMS will further strengthen our efforts to develop innovative new therapies against a wide variety of malignancies,” said Leonidas C. Platanias, director of the Lurie Cancer Center.

“The Rare Population Malignancy Program is a very timely and important initiative. The ability to rapidly investigate the clinical utility of BMS’s immuno-oncology agents, as single agents or in combinations, including with therapies from other sources, is a powerful accelerant to our programs. The focus on malignancies that are otherwise relatively under-investigated in therapeutic terms is particularly important and satisfying for all involved in this collaboration,” said Francis J. Giles, director of the NMDTI and deputy director of the Lurie Cancer Center.