Bristol Myers Squibb Offers bluebird bio a $200 Million Royalty Buyout
A couple of complex collaboration agreements that Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) inherited from Celgene are about to get a lot simpler. The big pharma is going to buy out its obligations to bluebird bio (NASDAQ: BLUE) in all territories outside of the U.S. for just $200 million.
Back in 2013, Celgene and bluebird bio made a deal to develop new cancer therapies with immune cells derived from multiple myeloma patients that have been trained to recognize and attack cancer cells once they're reinfused into patients. The amended deal that Bristol Meyers Squibb inherited from Celgene has grown to include milestone and royalty payments for two chimeric antigen receptor-modified T-cell (CAR-T) therapy candidates in late clinical-stage development, ide-cel, and its potential followup, bb21217.
Image source: Getty Images.
Source Fool.com