Pharma BD Deal Intelligence

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company / IFM Therapeutics, LLC

2017 · Acquisition/Merger · $2.3B · Complete

WRONG BY 34 POINTS

Innate-immunity bet never left Phase 1 — STING program axed in 2023, NLRP3 program still stuck in early trials 8 years later, no product ever reached market

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The coverage arc

Aug 30, 2017 FierceBiotech Neutral

BMS pays just $300M upfront with up to $2.02B in biobucks tied to the first product from each program — a heavily back-loaded structure that lets BMS hedge…

Apr 12, 2018 Clarivate Analytics / PR Newswire Bullish

Selected from more than 4,000 life-science transactions, the BMS-IFM deal won 2017 Deal of the Year for its novel technology, creative deal structure and…

Sep 13, 2024 ApexOnco / Evaluate Bearish

Merck and GSK have both quietly shelved their STING programs; the modality has produced 'zero clinical data' supporting direct application despite years of…

Source summaries from our enrichment pipeline; follow links for originals.

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BMS agreed to acquire IFM Therapeutics for $300M upfront plus up to $2.02B in contingent payments tied to first products from the two innate immunity programs (~$2.32B aggregate). The deal gave BMS full rights to IFM's preclinical STING and NLRP3 agonist programs targeting innate immunity in oncology. Awarded Clarivate's 2017 Deal of the Year. Closed September 7, 2017.

Did it work? Outcome assessment

Innate-immunity bet never left Phase 1 — STING program axed in 2023, NLRP3 program still stuck in early trials 8 years later, no product ever reached market

Strategic verdict
Failed to Achieve
Financial impact
Dilutive
Pipeline outcome
Assets Stalled

Key facts

Related deals — scored

DealYearValueOutcome
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company / IFM Therapeutics, LLC (this deal)2017$2.3B29
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company / Medarex Inc.2009$2.4B92
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company / Celgene Corporation2019$74.0B77
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company / MyoKardia Inc.2020$13.1B76
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company / Karuna Therapeutics2023$14.0B76
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company / Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.201176
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company / SystImmune Inc.2023$8.4B71

Compare all 7 side-by-side →

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