Bristol Myers Squibb and Bain Capital Create New Company Dedicated to Developing Innovating Immunology Therapies

Bristol Myers Squibb and Bain Capital announced the creation of a new independent biopharmaceutical company (“NewCo”) focused on developing new therapies for autoimmune diseases that address significant unmet needs of patients.

The newly formed company launches with five immunology assets in-licensed from BMS and a $300 million financing commitment that was led by Bain Capital.

The NewCo has a broad pipeline consisting of three clinical-stage and two Phase 1-ready investigational medicines that each target promising mechanisms in autoimmune diseases.

The most advanced assets in the NewCo’s portfolio are afimetoran, an oral, potential best-in-class TLR7/8 inhibitor that is currently being studied in a Phase 2 clinical trial for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and BMS-986322, an oral TYK2 inhibitor, which successfully established proof-of-concept in a positive plaque psoriasis Phase 2 trial.

Robert Plenge, MD, PhD, Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer at BMS, will also serve on NewCo’s Board of Directors. This transaction reflects BMS’s strategic shift in Immunology research to focus on assets that have the potential to reset the immune system and promote tissue repair.

“These assets have significant potential, and we are confident that this new company will drive their development to ensure greater impact for patients,” said Julie Rozenblyum, SVP, Business Development at BMS. “Bain Capital’s exceptional track record in building successful life science companies by providing focused development and dedicated resources makes them ideally suited to advance these assets to realize their full promise.”

Daniel S. Lynch will serve as the Executive Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors and interim CEO. Mr. Lynch is an accomplished biopharmaceutical industry leader with decades of strategic, management and operational experience at companies spanning many stages of growth. Nicholas Downing, MD, Adam Koppel, MD, PhD, and Andrew Kaplan from Bain Capital will also join Mr. Lynch and Dr. Plenge of BMS on NewCo’s Board of Directors.

“We are excited to partner with BMS and we share their commitment to improving lives through science,” said Adam Koppel, a Partner at Bain Capital Life Sciences. “We look forward to working together and leveraging our company creation experience to build out this new platform and advance these distinct assets in an effort to bring innovative, high-quality therapies to patients with autoimmune diseases.”

“This is a unique opportunity to build an innovative biotech company with a strong scientific foundation and differentiated development capabilities,” said Mr. Lynch. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to leverage my background and experience to contribute to the success of the company as it seeks to develop much-needed new therapies, and I look forward to supporting BMS and Bain Capital in the build-out of the company’s operations.”