Bristol Myers Squibb, Repertoire Enter $1.8 Billion Deal to Develop Vaccines for Autoimmune Diseases

On Monday, Repertoire Immune Medicines announced the start of a multi-year strategic collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) to develop tolerizing vaccines for patients with autoimmune disease, according to a news release.¹

Close up on logo of Bristol Myers Squibb | maurice norbert - stock.adobe.com

"Bristol Myers Squibb strives to change the treatment paradigm for patients with autoimmune and immune-mediated diseases with a commitment to the discovery and development of transformational medicines," said Francisco Ramírez-Valle, head of the Immunology & Cardiovascular Thematic Research Center at BMS, said in the news release.¹ “Our collaboration with Repertoire aims to selectively reset the immune system selectively, reflecting a key component of our immunology research strategy, which we believe may offer long-term benefit while mitigating unintended consequences associated with broad immune suppression.”

The terms of the agreement allow Repertoire, a biotechnology company that aims to aid in the discovery and development of programmable T-cell-targeted immune medicines, an upfront payment of $65 million, and up to $1.8 billion for achieving development, regulatory, and commercial milestones in addition to tiered royalties.

The collaboration will delegate Repertoire to lead all activities pertaining to development candidate nomination for up to 3 autoimmune diseases, while BMS will oversee lead clinical development, regulatory affairs, and commercialization of the vaccines under an exclusive world-wide license.

Additionally, Repertoire will utilize DECODE, its T-cell receptor (TCR)-epitope discovery platform, and its lipid nanoparticle delivery technology to discover and develop the vaccines. Furthermore, the DECODE platform will be used to monitor immune responses to the tolerizing vaccines in patients in clinical development.

"This agreement is a recognition of the transformative power of Repertoire's DECODE platform to discover and develop programmable T-cell targeted immune medicines," said Torben Straight Nissen, PhD, chief executive officer of Repertoire and executive partner of Flagship Pioneering, in the news release.¹ "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. This collaboration enables us to serve patients suffering from autoimmune diseases by translating our DECODE discoveries into potentially transformative medicines that address the underlying cause of their disease."

The payments from BMS and other potential partners will go toward an in-house operation that is split between cancer and autoimmune diseases. Repertoire will select drug development candidates from the oncology TCR bispecific side of its pipeline within the next 6 to 12 months.

The platform “is applicable to all autoimmune diseases that have an associated class 2 HLA [human leukocyte antigens] risk allele,” said Nissen in an interview with Fierce Biotech.² “Once you see those [cells] expand, you know that the vaccine will be efficacious so that it's really a pharmacodynamic marker of efficacy. The platform will play a role in choosing the dose and ensuring the right epitopes are included in the vaccines.”

“There's really a lot of interest and momentum in autoimmunity in general,” continued Nissen in the interview.² “We think that getting more and more specific about targeting just the drivers of autoimmune disease is really going to unlock this whole field. That was why it was important for us to do a deal in that space.”

References

1. Repertoire Immune Medicines and Bristol Myers Squibb announce multi-year strategic collaboration to develop tolerizing vaccines for autoimmune diseases. PR Newswire. April 29, 2024. Accessed April 30, 2024. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/repertoire-immune-medicines-and-bristol-myers-squibb-announce-multi-year-strategic-collaboration-to-develop-tolerizing-vaccines-for-autoimmune-diseases-302127861.html.

2. Taylor NP. Bristol Myers pays $65m to expand repertoire of autoimmune assets. Fierce Biotech. April 29, 2024. Accessed April 30, 2024. https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/bms-pays-65m-expand-repertoire-autoimmune-assets.