Bristol-Myers Squibb agrees takeover of Cormorant Pharmaceuticals

Bristol-Myers Squibb has announced the acquisition of Cormorant Pharmaceuticals, a privately-owned pharmaceutical company based in Stockholm.

Focused on the development of therapies for cancer and rare diseases, the company is responsible for creating the HuMax-IL8 antibody programme and the lead candidate HuMax-IL8, a phase I/II monoclonal antibody targeted against interleukin-8.

The drug has the potential to enhance immune response and increase the efficacy of existing cancer medicines through combination therapy, with the rights to the drug acquired by Cormorant from Genmab in 2012.

This deal includes upfront and near-term contingent milestone payments of up to $95 million (73.28 million pounds) and additional contingent consideration of up to $425 million upon the achievement of certain development and regulatory milestones.

Francis Cuss, executive vice-president and chief scientific officer at Bristol-Myers Squibb, said: "The opportunity to develop the HuMax-IL8 antibody programme, together with our broad immuno-oncology pipeline, enables us to accelerate the next wave of potentially transformational immunotherapies."

This comes after the firm announced a new collaboration with PsiOxus Therapeutics last week, which will focus on the development of a new cancer treatment option.