Obsidian Therapeutics Announces Bristol Myers Squibb Opt-In of cytoDRiVE™ Cell Therapy Candidate

On September 15, 2020 Obsidian Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company pioneering controllable cell and gene therapies, reported that Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) has exercised its option to an exclusive worldwide license to a cell therapy candidate based on Obsidian’s cytoDRiVE technology for the controlled expression of the immunomodulatory factor CD40L (Press release, Obsidian Therapeutics, SEP 15, 2020, View Source [SID1234565149]). This announcement marks the first opt-in decision by Bristol Myers Squibb since the companies announced their collaboration to develop novel cell therapies in January 2019. Under the terms of the agreement, Obsidian is eligible to receive potential future milestone and royalty payments.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

"We are very interested in exploring innovative approaches to developing engineered cell therapies, including the cytoDRiVE platform," said Rupert Vessey, D. Phil., Executive Vice President, Research and Early Development, Bristol Myers Squibb. "By controlling the expression of armed payloads like CD40L, Obsidian’s cell therapy candidates may have the potential to overcome tumor microenvironment resistance and unlock the power of cell therapy in solid tumors and other malignancies."

"This announcement marks an important milestone validating Obsidian’s cytoDRiVE platform, and we look forward to continuing to work with Bristol Myers Squibb to bring powerful new immunotherapies to patients," said Paul K. Wotton, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Obsidian Therapeutics. "We are also pleased with the pace with which our own pipeline programs are progressing as we continue to advance our lead controllable tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy to the clinic."