Deal on Cancer ADC Gets Canceled by Eisai and Bristol Myers

Eisai will terminate a partnership on a dual-action lung and ovarian cancer medication with Bristol Myers Squibb, the organization declared on Monday. Bristol Myers Squibb, the U.S. drugmaker that contributed to the termination, stated this was part of their “portfolio prioritization efforts,” referring to actions taken in April.

Citing the transaction’s accounting measurement under International Financial Reporting Standard 5, the Japan-based drug manufacturer will rebate $100 million to BMY out of the $200 million that Bristol Myers initially paid to fund research and development expenditures for farletuzumab ecteribulin.

The two companies signed the partnership in late February 2021, which entailed a combined sum of $650 million in upfront payments, and a potential of $2.5 billion in milestone payments. This indicated Bristol Myers’ interest in antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) that other drug makers have launched. Bristol Myers has yet to follow through with this interest.

As is the case with all ADCs, farletuzumab ecteribulin represents an antibody-drug conjugate that utilizes antibodies’ specificity to target cancer cells and chemotherapy’s ability to destroy these cells. Eisai’s drug is the first of this genre for the firm and works through an antibody that targets a protein known as FR-alpha, detected in lung, ovarian, and other forms of cancer. It is related to chemotherapy involving an agent based on Halaven, Eisai’s marketed breast cancer drug.

The collaborators have progressed to phase 2 studies, supported by Bristol Myers, for non-SCLC that has spread outside of the lungs and chemoresistant ovarian cancer. In addition to lung and ovarian diseases, Eisai is still in the initial phase of its human study for solid tumors, which they have also used to treat endometrial and breast cancer.

After the termination of the deal, Eisai stated that the development of the agent in question will be expedited to make the product available to patients as soon as possible.

Since then, Eisai has entered into an ADC agreement with SystImmune for $800 million in cash at signing and Orum Therapeutics for $100 million in cash at signing. The second of those two deals is for an antibody linked to a protein degrader drug, not a chemotherapy one.

Like its peers, Bristol Myers initiated a strategic overhaul of its business recently due to the expiry of many of its flagship products’ patents. In April last year, as part of an organizational restructuring plan, the company stated that it would let go of 2,200 employees, which is 6 percent of its workforce, and had withdrawn 12 experimental therapies.

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