Bristol-Myers Squibb agrees option to acquire F-star Alpha

Bristol-Myers Squibb has announced that it has agreed an exclusive option to acquire F-star Alpha, a subsidiary of the biopharmaceutical company F-star.

The deal would allow Bristol-Myers Squibb to gain worldwide rights to F-star Alpha's lead asset FS102, a novel phase I-ready HER2-targeted therapy in development for the treatment of breast and gastric cancer patients who do not respond or have become resistant to current therapies.

Bristol-Myers Squibb will make payments aggregating to $50 million (31.02 million pounds), consisting of an option fee, payment for certain rights and licenses from F-star Alpha and a clinical milestone payment upon initiation of the phase I trial.

It will be responsible for conducting and funding development of FS102 during the option period. Bristol-Myers Squibb can exercise the option to acquire F-star Alpha upon commencement of  phase IIb testing of the drug. In total, the deal could be worth up to $475 million.

Francis Cuss, executive vice-president and chief scientific officer at Bristol-Myers Squibb, said: "We look forward to working with F-star and leveraging our broad clinical expertise in oncology to uncover the full potential of FS102."

This comes after the company announced a new collaboration with Pharmacyclics and Janssen earlier this month to assess a new approach for treating non-Hodgkin lymphoma.