Bristol Myers Squibb is shedding two clinical programs from its in-house pipeline, one from its 2023 Mirati buyout and another from a partnership with U.K. biotech Exscientia, now known as Recursion.
The changes were shared in third-quarter earnings slides presented Oct. 30 (PDF).
The Mirati program was an SOS1 inhibitor previously coded as MRTX0902. The asset was being studied in a phase 1/2 solid tumor trial that launched in 2022 and has a primary readout slated for mid-2026, according to ClinicalTrials.gov.
As of publication, BMS has not responded to Fierce’s request for comment or questions about the trial’s status.
The candidate was being evaluated as both a monotherapy and in combination with Mirati’s adagrasib (Krazati), which first nabbed accelerated approval in 2022 as a treatment for certain patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, and later secured a regulatory green light paired with Erbitux in colorectal cancer.
Both MRTX0902 and adagrasib stem from BMS’s up-to-$5.8 billion acquisition for California-based cancer drug developer Mirati. The pharma has also continued development of MRTX1719, another Mirati program that is currently in phase 1 testing for solid tumors with MTAP deletion.
The second asset removed from Bristol's internal pipeline is a PKC-theta inhibitor known as EXS4318. The immunology and inflammation asset had come from Exscientia, which has since merged with Recursion. The program had first-in-class potential and entered in-human testing in 2023.
BMS got its hand on the candidate in 2021 after penning a $1.2 billion biobucks discovery deal and later licensing the rights to EXS4318.
As of publication, BMS did not respond to Fierce’s questions about the status of the partnership.
BMS's earnings materials only identified the testing phase and drug mechanisms for the affected pipeline assets. A look at the company's prior pipeline developments indicates that the candidates came from the Mirati and Exscientia deals.
The pipeline changes come on the heels of a leadership transition at BMS, with former Chief Medical Officer Samit Hirawat, M.D., succeeded by AstraZeneca’s Cristian Massacesi, M.D.
On Thursday’s call, Massacesi highlighted the pharma’s neuro work, specifically that related to approved schizophrenia treatment Cobenfy. The new CMO counted 14 studies that are either ongoing or in the process of being launched—including 10 pivotal studies—related to the drug.
The changes also come amid the drugmaker’s cost-saving initiative designed to save $1.5 billion by the end of the year.