Pictured:BMS sign on a building in San Diego，California/iStock， JHVEPhoto
Bristol Myers Squibb announced标准that it has entered a potential$1.8 billion，multi-year collaboration withRepertoire Immune Medicinesto create tolerizing vaccines for up to three autoimmune diseases
Under the agreement， BMS will pay$65 million upfront to Repertoire while the biotech is eligible to receive additional milestone payments and potential tiered royalties.Repertoire will be responsible for leading all activities on the vaccines through to the development nomination stage.BMS will then taover responsibility for the clinical delopment， regulatory affairs and commercialization efforts under a worldwide license。
According to Repertoire，the deal will use its Decode discovery platform to find the vaccine candidates.Decode is a T cell receptor-epitope platform using proprietary lipid nanoparticle delivery technology.The biotech said that the vaccines will aim to treat the underlying causes by“resetting”the musystem。However，no details were provided as to what specific diseases are being targeted
“Our collaboration with Repertoire aims to selectively reset the immune system selectively，reflecting akey component of our immunology research strategy，which we believe may offer long term benefit while mitigating unintended consequences associated with broad immune suppression，”Francisco，head of the Immunology&Cardiovascular Thematic Research Center at BMS，said in a statement
Revertoire was founded in 2019by Flagship Pioneering andlaunchedin2020but it faced rough waters in2022.The companyscrappedtwo Phase I trials for its T-cell therapeutic candidates，RPTR-147and RPTR-16，in human papillomavirus（HPV）positive tumors after data showed it only had a limited effect。Repertoire focused on using the Decode platform to find targets for cancer，autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases
“This agreement is a recognition of the transformative power of Repertoire’s Decode platform to discover and develop programmable T cell targeted immune medicines，”Repertoire CEO Torben Straight Nissen said in a statement。“We are excited to collaborate with Bristol Myers Squibb to combine their leadership in immunology with our unique ability to discover key disease-associated epitopes in patients with autoimmune diseases.”
BMS has been active in the deal space of late.Last week，the company signeda$380millionreservation and supply deal with manufacturer Cellares to strengthen the production of CAR-T cell therapies
Thepharma also announced in its first-quarter2024 earnings that it plans to generate$1.5 billion in cost savings through2025，includingeliminating2200jobsby the end of the year。
Tyler Patchen is a staff writer atBioSpace.You can reach him attyler.patchen@biospace.com.Follow him onLinkedIn。
