Bridge­Bio has lo­cat­ed the bridge to green­er pas­tures, specif­i­cal­ly the lav­ish pur­ple of Bris­tol My­ers Squibb.

The two are col­lab­o­rat­ing in a deal giv­ing the re­or­ga­nized biotech an up­front pay­ment of $90 mil­lion, a cap­i­tal in­fu­sion that comes a week af­ter the Pa­lo Al­to, CA biotech dis­closed $23 to $25 mil­lion in re­struc­tur­ing-re­lat­ed costs. That move al­so in­clud­ed the out-li­cens­ing of six pro­grams, a round of lay­offs, con­sol­i­da­tion of fa­cil­i­ties and oth­er ac­tiv­i­ties in a ma­jor re-route.

A deal with BMS might get Bridge­Bio back on track af­ter a ma­jor Phase III set­back last year for aco­ramidis, a drug meant to slow the pro­gres­sion of the rare dis­ease TTR amy­loi­do­sis. The duo will work to­geth­er on BBP-398, an SHP2 in­hibitor, for var­i­ous on­col­o­gy pro­grams. The in­hibitor is thought to con­tribute to var­i­ous can­cers, be a source of re­sis­tance to tar­get­ed ther­a­pies and play a role in sup­press­ing im­mu­ni­ty to tu­mors.

The $90 mil­lion is just a small chunk of the over­all $905 mil­lion that Bridge­Bio can pull in from the part­ner­ship, should all mile­stones play out, and more in low- to mid-teens tiered roy­al­ties if the drug makes it to mar­ket. The two linked arms last sum­mer on the in­ves­ti­ga­tion­al can­cer treat­ment, with a non-ex­clu­sive, co-fund­ed clin­i­cal col­lab­o­ra­tion to pair up BBP-398 with BMS’ Op­di­vo in pa­tients with ad­vanced sol­id tu­mors with KRAS mu­ta­tions.

Bridge­Bio will con­tin­ue lead­ing those on­go­ing Phase I monother­a­py and com­bo treat­ment stud­ies. Fol­low­ing those tri­als, BMS will take over fi­nanc­ing for all oth­er de­vel­op­ment and com­mer­cial work, the com­pa­nies said Thurs­day. If Bridge­Bio wants high­er roy­al­ties, though, it could opt in to fund part of the de­vel­op­ment costs once reg­is­tra­tional stud­ies kick in­to gear.

Ru­pert Vessey

“We have seen the po­ten­tial role SHP2 in­hi­bi­tion could play in un­lock­ing pos­si­ble com­bi­na­tion ther­a­pies to treat pa­tients suf­fer­ing from a range of can­cers. We are hope­ful this col­lab­o­ra­tion with Bridge­Bio will help us max­i­mize the pos­si­bil­i­ties SHP2 in­hi­bi­tion with BBP-398 will hold for pa­tients,” said Ru­pert Vessey, BMS EVP of re­search and ear­ly de­vel­op­ment, in a press re­lease.

The drug was found­ed through a col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas MD An­der­son Can­cer Cen­ter. Lian­Bio and Bridge­Bio have teamed up on the drug, as well, for the treat­ment’s de­vel­op­ment and com­mer­cial­iza­tion in main­land Chi­na and oth­er re­gions of Asia. Those stud­ies re­volve around non-small cell lung can­cer and col­orec­tal and pan­cre­at­ic can­cer. The drug is al­so part of a com­bo test with Am­gen’s Lumakras for ad­vanced sol­id tu­mors with KRAS^G12C mu­ta­tions.

In ad­di­tion to the lay­offs and fa­cil­i­ty down­siz­ing an­nounced last week dur­ing earn­ings, Bridge­Bio said it wants to out-li­cense six pro­grams: two clin­i­cal-stage drugs, two pre­clin­i­cal AAV gene ther­a­pies and two oth­er pre-hu­man tri­al as­sets.

The FDA has rejected Verrica Pharmaceuticals’ skin disease treatment for a third time — and once again the contract manufacturer is to blame.

The biotech emphasized that the only deficiency in the complete response letter is related to a general reinspection of the CMO, Sterling Pharmaceuticals, and has nothing to do specifically with its drug-device; the rest of the NDA is good to go.

CEO Ted White said the company is “extremely disappointed,” but will keep working toward approval.

Pfizer has agreed to pay $290,000 to settle allegations of questionable copay coupon practices in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, and Vermont from 2014 to 2018.

While the company has not admitted any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, Pfizer has agreed to issue restitution checks to about 5,000 consumers.

A Pfizer spokesperson said the company has “enhanced its co-pay coupons to alleviate the concerns raised by states and agreed to a $30,000 payment to each.”

A judge in Delaware has ruled against Astellas Pharma and Gilead in a long-running patent case over Pfizer-onwed Hospira’s generic version of Lexiscan.

The case kicked off in 2018, after Hospira submitted an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for approval to market a generic version of Gilead’s Lexiscan. The drug is used in myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), a type of nuclear stress test.

The area of Ireland famous for Blarney Castle and its cliffsides along the Atlantic Ocean is seeing Merck KGaA expand its commitment there.

The German drug manufacturer is expanding its membrane and filtration manufacturing capabilities in Ireland. The company will invest approximately €440 million ($470 million) to increase membrane manufacturing capacity in Carrigtwohill, Ireland, and build a new manufacturing facility at Blarney Business Park, in County Cork, Ireland.

Twenty House Democrats, including Reps. Katie Porter of California and Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, are calling on Senate leaders to move quickly with a reconciliation bill (meaning they only need a simple majority for passage) with prescription drug pricing reforms, and to include adding new authority for Medicare to negotiate drug prices.

They also called on the Senate to specifically follow suit with the House passage of a $35 per month insulin cap (as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s deadline for a vote on that provision has come and gone), and to cap Medicare Part D costs at $2,000 per year for seniors.