Bristol Myers makes $1.5B bid for Orbital Therapeutics

US pharma major Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Orbital Therapeutics, a privately-held biotechnology company pioneering a new generation of RNA medicines.

The acquisition centers on Orbital’s lead pre-clinical candidate OTX-201, an investigational RNA immunotherapy designed to reprogram cells within the body (in vivo) to target CD19-positive B cells implicated in autoimmune diseases. The therapy, currently in investigational new drug (IND)-enabling studies, uses circular RNA delivered via lipid nanoparticles to potentially offer a less burdensome alternative to traditional CAR T-cell treatments.

This marks the second full M&A deal this year for BMS, which in March acquired 2seventy bio for $286 million. The company also entered a large strategic partnership with Germany’s BioNTech (Nasdaq: BNTX) for co-developing and commercializing a new immuno-oncology therapy, BNT327.