CEO Defends Paused MS Cell Therapy After Patient Death, Targets Early-2027 Restart
BMY sits 43% above its 52-week low of $42.52.
Summary
CEO Chris Boerner used the Q3 earnings call to defend the cell therapy program that Bristol paused after a patient in its multiple sclerosis study died last week. Management says the side effects were not related to the drug and aims to restart trials early next year, which is the key de-risking milestone for the program. Boerner also pointed to a new class of cancer treatments and a potential Alzheimer's psychosis drug as offsets to the revenue cliff from Eliquis and Opdivo losing patent protection. He was notably more guarded on the blood thinner being developed with Johnson & Johnson, calling it important but steering attention to the broader pipeline. The stock reaction hinges on whether investors accept the restart timeline or read the death as a deeper safety problem for the whole autoimmune CAR-T effort.
At the time of this announcement, BMY was trading at $60.65 on NYSE in the Life Sciences sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $123.9B. The 52-week trading range was $42.52 to $68.64. This news item was assessed with neutral market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10. Source: Dow Jones Newswires.