Bristol Myers Squibb strikes $1.1B drug discovery deal with Volastra

Bristol Myers Squibb to leverage Volastra’s CINtech platform to discover and develop oncology drug candidates.  

Volastra will receive $30 million in an upfront payment and will also be eligible to receive up to $1.1 billion in development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments. Additionally, Volastra is entitled to receive royalties on net global sales of any product commercialized by Bristol Myers Squibb resulting from the collaboration. 

Volastra CEO, Charles Hugh-Jones, said the company looked forward to working with Bristol Myers Squibb to “transform cancer treatment”.  

“The combination of Bristol Myers Squibb’s expertise in oncology and Volastra’s deep understanding of chromosomal instability as cancer’s Achilles heel makes for an ideal partnership to advance novel therapies for patients,” he said.  

Having previously struck deals with Weil Cornell Medicine and Microsoft, this marks the first collaboration where Volastra will be developing therapeutic targets. The company says it is now focused on building out a candidate for phase 1 trials, with a regulatory request for human testing expected in early 2023.