What is the main mission of Bristol Myers Squibb and how has it evolved over the years?
Bristol Myers Squibb has more than a century-long tradition of caring for patients, but the last five years have been truly transformational. We have launched nine products, three last year were first in class, and we have more than 50 molecules in development in our pipeline. By combining both external and internal innovation, we are investing more than twenty percent of our revenues in proprietary R&D programs. Our focus is on areas with significant unmet medical need, and we have established leadership positions in cellular therapies and protein homeostasis. We are developing small molecule and biologic drugs across four therapeutic areas: hematology, oncology, cardiology and immunology.
Besides a deep focus on science, our culture embodies a patient-centric approach that translates into an unwavering commitment to equity and access to healthcare. We are working tirelessly to increase the diversity in clinical trials for both patients and researchers.
I come from a long line of physicians, and when I was younger, I used to pick up the phone when my father’s patients would call. That has always stayed with me, and as a result, I joined the R&D side of the industry out of the desire to directly participate in the development of transformational medicines. Experience taught me that long-term success depends on advancing innovative medicines and always having patients at the center of everything we do. Ultimately, these critical elements became the core culture of Bristol Myers Squibb.
From your point of view, in which possible ways will the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) affect the innovative side of the industry?
The government price setting policies that are part of the IRA are going to impact patient access to the care they need and the industry’s ability to invest in innovation. We expect certain areas of medicine to be disproportionately impacted, like oncology, which require significant R&D following initial approval to study the medicine in different tumor types and at different stages. As an example, since the original approval of our metastatic melanoma treatment Opdivo, we have studied and gained approval in more than 25 different tumor types, stages and combinations, which has revolutionized cancer care. With this type of research being disincentivized, we may not see the full breadth of benefits for patients.
As a company, we are staying committed to our mission in the face of these challenges -- continuing to diversify our business and doubling down on our efforts to bring more medicines to more patients faster.
Which strategies are you employing to solve the challenge of patents coming to an end?
The nine medicines that we launched will provide us with the ability to continue to grow the company between today and 2025. The goal is to double our revenue for our new product portfolio from $2 billion in 2023. Revenues for this new product portfolio will be in the range of $10 billion and $13 billion by 2025. We are confident that these new products will help offset the loss of exclusivity from Revlimid, and we are also relying on the innate strength of the company’s six new registrational assets that are in late-stage development.
We are keen on expanding our cell therapy leadership position, as we are the only company with two therapies approved for different types of hematologic malignancies and a third late-stage program, which is currently running. Moreover, we have five products in clinical development across our protein homeostasis scientific platform, and we’ve also decided to expand our portfolio in neurodegenerative diseases.
Would you say we are experiencing an unprecedented epoch in terms of the collaboration between technology and the life sciences?
Precision medicine is definitely one of the highlights of today's biotechnology. Today, thanks to precision medicines, we can address needs in a deeply individualized way. One example is in cardiovascular treatments. In the past, cardiovascular treatments were addressed to a large number of patients and our drug Camzyos addresses obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetically determined disease which affects few patients, by targeting the underlying the pathophysiology of obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, transforming patients’ lives.
Drug development has been tremendously accelerated with the help of digital solutions.
Our priority is to further accelerate the adoption of machine learning and artificial intelligence in order to streamline the discovery of drug candidates and accelerate the development of clinical trials.
The collaboration between academia, biotech and pharma has never been stronger. BMS has 85 active partnerships with small biotech companies. Our goal here is to help them accelerate their programs and possibly even acquire and integrate them into our pipeline. Our main headquarters is located in New Jersey, but we have been expanding our research and development footprint across other states, and today, we have research teams in places such as San Diego, San Francisco, Cambridge and Seattle. It all boils down to staying open to new opportunities and collaborating with the external world.
