Bristol-Myers
Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) today announced that they have entered
into a collaboration agreement with UCLA as part of Bristol-Myers
Squibb’s Immuno-Oncology Rare Population Malignancy (I-O RPM) research
program in the U.S. The I-O RPM research program is a
multi-institutional initiative with academic-based cancer centers
focused on the clinical investigation of immuno-oncology therapeutics as
potential treatment options for patients with high risk, poor prognostic
cancers, defined as a rare population malignancy.
Bristol-Myers Squibb and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA will
conduct a range of early phase clinical studies as part of the I-O RPM
research program, and Bristol-Myers Squibb will fund positions within
UCLA’s fellowship program in the UCLA Division of Hematology/Oncology.
“The I-O RPM research program is an important complement to
Bristol-Myers Squibb’s broad research and development program for
immuno-oncology,” said Laura Bessen, M.D., head of U.S. Medical,
Bristol-Myers Squibb. “We look forward to working with UCLA in an effort
to continue advancing the science in this innovative field of research
and cancer treatment.”
About I-O RPM
Immuno-oncology is an innovative approach to cancer research and
treatment that is designed to harness the body’s own immune system to
fight cancer. The I-O RPM research program focuses on significant areas
of high unmet need marked by poor outcomes among patients with rare
population malignancies. A rare population malignancy is a subpopulation
within a higher incident disease population. These patients have
aggressive disease with an increased potential for early metastasis to
multiple sites and/or are initially refractory or subject to early
recurrences with conventional cancer therapies. Existing clinical
research provide a strong rationale for further research into the
potential of immunotherapies for these cancers.
The I-O RPM research program is a multi-institutional initiative with
Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University
and the Northwestern Medicine Developmental Therapeutics Institute,
Moffitt Cancer Center, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at
Johns Hopkins and now UCLA. I-O RPM builds on Bristol-Myers Squibb’s
formation in 2012 of the International Immuno-Oncology Network (II-ON),
which is a global collaboration between Bristol-Myers Squibb and
academia focused on facilitating the translation of scientific research
findings into clinical trials and, eventually, clinical practice.
About Bristol Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission
is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help
patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information, please
visit www.bms.com
or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bmsnews.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” as that term
is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
regarding the research, development and commercialization of
pharmaceutical products. Such forward-looking statements are based on
current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties,
including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and
could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from
current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed.
Among other risks, there can be no guarantee that the immunotherapies
discussed in this release will be successfully developed or approved for
any of the indications described in this release. Forward-looking
statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the
many uncertainties that affect Bristol-Myers Squibb's business,
particularly those identified in the cautionary factors discussion in
Bristol-Myers Squibb's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2014 in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Current
Reports on Form 8-K. Bristol-Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to
publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of
new information, future events or otherwise.
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