Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
A win by timing: BMS and Ono expanded their PD-1 collaboration across Japan, South Korea and Taiwan the same month Opdivo received the world's first PD-1 approval, in Japan—though the deal folded in three still-early immunotherapies whose fate wasn't spelled out.
Outcome grade pending — assessed 5 years post-close.
Full analysis, sources & comparables →AJMC reported the partners would jointly develop and commercialize Opdivo, Yervoy, and three early-stage immunotherapies (lirilumab, urelumab,…
"Our collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb strengthens our ability to further enhance the potential of Opdivo, for which ONO recently received manufacturing…
Ten years post-deal, Ono and BMS continued joint label expansion—filing supplemental Opdivo+Yervoy applications in Japan for MSI-high colorectal…
Source summaries from our enrichment pipeline; follow links for originals.
All 6 sources with sentiment breakdown →
BMS and Ono expanded their long-running PD-1 collaboration to jointly develop and commercialize Opdivo, Yervoy and three early immunotherapies in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan—markets where Ono historically retained rights. Strategically pivotal as Opdivo received the world's first PD-1 approval in Japan that same month.
PD-1 and CTLA-4 checkpoint inhibitors block the inhibitory receptors that tumors exploit to suppress T-cell activity, restoring anti-tumor immunity across melanoma, NSCLC, RCC, urothelial, hepatocellular, gastric, and other malignancies. In 2014 the class was nascent and the Asia-Pacific market was structurally fragmented, with Ono historically holding Japan/Korea/Taiwan rights to nivolumab via a 2005 BMS-Ono codevelopment agreement.
Opdivo (nivolumab) won the world's first PD-1 approval in Japan on July 4, 2014, just weeks before this expanded BMS-Ono collaboration was announced (July 23, 2014), beating Merck's Keytruda (US melanoma approval September 2014) to first-in-class globally. Yervoy (ipilimumab, anti-CTLA-4) had been approved by FDA in 2011 but was not yet launched broadly across Asia-Pacific. The expanded deal also brought into scope three early BMS immuno-oncology assets—lirilumab (anti-KIR), urelumab (CD137 agonist), and BMS-986016 (anti-LAG-3, later relatlimab/Opdualag)—giving Ono a broader portfolio than just PD-1/CTLA-4. Competitively, Roche's atezolizumab and AstraZeneca's durvalumab were still in early-mid clinical development, while Chugai/Roche held independent Japan rights to atezolizumab. The deal solidified BMS-Ono coordination in the highest-value Asia-Pacific oncology markets ahead of a wave of label expansions across NSCLC, RCC, gastric, HCC, and urothelial cancers.
| Deal | Year | Value | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol-Myers Squibb Company / Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (this deal) | 2014 | — | — |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb Company / Medarex Inc. | 2009 | $2.4B | 92 |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb Company / Celgene Corporation | 2019 | $74.0B | 77 |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb Company / MyoKardia Inc. | 2020 | $13.1B | 76 |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb Company / Karuna Therapeutics | 2023 | $14.0B | 76 |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb Company / Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. | 2011 | — | 76 |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb Company / SystImmune Inc. | 2023 | $8.4B | 71 |
← Browse all deals · How we score deals
More: 2014 deals · Bristol-Myers Squibb Company deals · Oncology deals