With an upfront payment of $350 million, global HIV research firm ViiV Healthcare has acquired the HIV medication portfolio of pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb -- including many investigational therapies at various stages of development.
"Bristol-Myers Squibb has been committed to the HIV community for almost three decades, contributing significantly to the science and to the transformation in the treatment of this disease,” Francis Cuss, Bristol-Myers Squibb's chief scientific officer, said. “Given the remaining unmet medical needs in HIV, Bristol-Myers Squibb continued its discovery of novel treatment approaches and the agreements with ViiV Healthcare now put the development of these potentially first-in-class compounds into the hands of a global specialist company exclusively dedicated to finding new medicines for people living with HIV.”
The transaction is expected to close sometime in early 2016.
After the upfront payments, ViiV will submit milestone payments of as much as $518 million for clinical assets and $587 million for discovery and pre-clinical initiatives to Bristol-Myers Squibb. Bristol-Myers Squibb will also receive tiered royalties from any approved and commercialized therapies from the portfolio.
More information about the sale or any of Bristol-Myers Squibb's products is available online at www.bms.com.
