Bristol-Myers Squibb

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (BMS) is one of the largest US pharmaceutical companies that manufactures and distributes medicines and drugs against cancer, HIV infection, analgesics, antibiotics and cardiac drugs. Notable BMS pharmaceuticals include Taxol (cancer), Glucophage/metformin hydrochloride (type 2 diabetes), Zerit (HIV/AIDS), and Thalomid/thalidomide (erythema nodosum leprosum, multiple myeloma). The heart medications AVAPRO and PLAVIX were co-developed with Sanofi.

The National Cancer Institute partnered with BMS in 1991 for the commercial production of plant-based Taxol, using a semisynthetic form of the compound. Taxol was approved in 1992 for treatment of ovarian cancer and in 1994 for treatment of breast cancer.

BMS developed immune checkpoint inhibitors anti-PD-1, anti-CRLA-4 and anti-LAG-3.

Lymphocyte activation gene-3 (LAG-3) and programmed death-1 (PD-1) are two distinct inhibitory immune checkpoints that are often expressed on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, which contribute to tumor-mediated T-cell exhaustion. The antibody combination called Opdualag (nivolumab and relatlimab-rmbw) was FDA approved in March 2022 as treatment for patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma. Nivolumab is a PD-1 inhibitor, and relatlimab is a LAG-3-blocking antibody, and the combination results in increased T-cell activation compared to either antibody alone.

LAG-3 antibody treatment relatlimab was tested in a phase 3 trial in combination with the PD-1 blocker Opdivo. Data released in March 2022 show that the combination did twice as well as Opdivo alone in slowing cancer progression.

Bristol-Myers Squibb entered collaborations with Roche in March 2022, to support the advancement of two assays for use in clinical trials with the development and deployment of new digital pathology algorithms. The collaboration with Roche Digital Pathology involves creating an AI-based image analysis algorithm to assist pathologists in interpretation of the on-market VENTANA PD-L1 (SP142). VENTANA PD-L1 is an immunohistochemical assay for the assessment of tumor tissue samples to predict patients most likely to respond to specific therapies. BMS will use this algorithm to generate biomarker data from clinical trial samples. The other Roche collaboration involves the Open Environment collaboration with PathAI to integrate a PathAI-developed algorithm for CD8 biomarker analysis into the NAVIFY Digital Pathology workflow software. BMS will use the AI-powered algorithm to analyze clinical trial samples stained with Roche’s CD8 assay and generate spatial biomarker data. Data from both projects aim to improve cancer diagnosis and advance personalized healthcare treatment options.