Bristol-Myers Squibb To Buy Biotech Firm Adnexus

Bristol-Myers Squibb will acquire the privately held biopharmaceutical company Adnexus Therapeutics for $430 million. The purchase is the latest step in the big drug company's program to expand its presence in large-molecule, or biologic, pharmaceuticals.

Adnexus, which has a biologic cancer therapy called Angiocept in Phase I clinical trials, has developed a proprietary class of biologics called Adnectins. The firm also has developed a protein design technique called PROfusion.

Bristol-Myers says it will pay an additional $75 million if Angiocept meets certain developmental targets.

Earlier this year, the companies formed a $30 million joint partnership to develop Adnectins, which are based on human fibronectin, an extracellular protein that is naturally abundant in human blood serum.

"Biologics are one cornerstone of our growth strategy," says Bristol-Myers CEO James M. Cornelius. "This investment in biologics discovery complements our continued investment in a growing biologics pipeline and portfolio."

Bristol-Myers manufactures biologic compounds in Syracuse, N.Y., and is building a large-scale bulk biologics plant in Devens, Mass. Announced in 2006, the plant is expected to be complete in 2009 at a cost of $750 million. Among other things, it will manufacture Orencia, an arthritis treatment that is the company's first internally discovered biologic compound.