Bris­tol-My­ers las­sos the next big thing in I/O, grabs '214 rights in a record $3.6B deal with Nek­tar

Af­ter fig­ur­ing for days in a swirling mix of ru­mors about a pos­si­ble buy­out, Nek­tar Ther­a­peu­tics $NK­TR is putting an end to the buzz with a record, multi­bil­lion-dol­lar part­ner­ship deal with Bris­tol-My­ers Squibb for a mi­nor­i­ty share of its ear­ly-stage im­muno-on­col­o­gy drug NK­TR-214.

Look­ing for a ma­jor new com­mer­cial op­por­tu­ni­ty to fol­low up on its two big I/O lead­ers — Op­di­vo and Yer­voy — Bris­tol-My­ers has forged a broad deal that will give the big biotech an ex­clu­sive de­vel­op­ment pe­ri­od to pur­sue a broad new com­bo de­vel­op­ment pro­gram cov­er­ing 20 in­di­ca­tions in­volv­ing 9 tu­mors, match­ing ‘214 with Op­di­vo and Yer­voy.

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