NEW YORK – In the first quarter of 2024, Bristol Myers Squibb completed three acquisitions, began reporting revenues from recently acquired products, such as the KRAS G12C inhibitor Krazati (adagrasib) and the ROS1/TRK inhibitor Augtyro (repotrectinib), and racked up new indications within its cell therapy franchise.
The milestones come as BMS simultaneously set in motion a plan to save $1.5 billion in costs by the end of 2025 and reduce headcount by 2,200 employees. The firm said it will focus its resources on R&D programs that can deliver the greatest return on investment while prioritizing investment in key growth assets and optimizing operations across the company.
The firm has also discontinued about 12 pipeline programs as part of the cost-saving plan, Samit Hirawat, chief medical officer for drug development at BMS, said during a call on Thursday to discuss the company's Q1 financial performance. Some of the discontinued programs include an investigational CTLA-4 inhibitor, SIRPα antagonist, and BET inhibitor, he said.
Meanwhile, BMS CEO Chris Boerner underscored the firm's focus on developing products with growth potential that can diversify its revenue composition.
"This is a diversified portfolio of assets across each of our therapeutic areas, and we feel good about the potential of that portfolio not only through the end of this year but to be a catalyst for growth in the back half of the decade," Boerner said, adding that BMS "saw very nice product progress with the pipeline over the course of the quarter."
The company's growth portfolio includes all of its precision oncology products, which contributed $4.79 billion to Q1 2024 revenue, an 8 percent increase from $4.42 billion in the same period last year. The revenue from this portfolio now represents about 40 percent of BMS's total revenue, BMS CFO David Elkins said during the call.
For the three months ended March 31, BMS's total revenue was $11.87 billion, a 5 percent increase from $11.34 billion in Q1 2023. The firm beat analysts' average revenue expectation of $11.46 billion for the quarter. BMS's legacy portfolio, which includes older drugs like its cardiovascular medicine Eliquis (apixaban) and multiple myeloma drug Revlimid (lenalidomide), among others, contributed $7.07 billion in revenue, a 2 percent increase compared to the year-ago quarter.
BMS's top-selling oncology drug, the checkpoint inhibitor Opdivo (nivolumab), generated $2.08 billion in sales in Q1 2024, compared to $2.20 billion in the same period last year, a 6 percent decrease. The company reported $583 million in revenue from its other checkpoint inhibitor Yervoy (ipilimumab), a 15 percent jump from $508 million in Q1 2023.
Elkins attributed the decrease in Opdivo sales to inventory reductions and timing of customer orders in the US. He added that BMS expects Opdivo sales to grow "at a more modest pace" through 2024.
The company's PD-1 and LAG-3 combination drug Opdualag (nivolumab and relatlimab) had revenues of $206 million in Q1 2024, a 76 percent increase from $117 million in the same period last year.
BMS also reported partial-quarter sales for its recently acquired drugs, Krazati, a KRAS G12C-mutant NSCLC drug, and Augtyro, a ROS1-positive NSCLC therapy. Krazati generated $21 million and Augtyro brought in $6 million in revenues in the first quarter. Elkins said Augtyro's performance during the quarter reflects "positive early sales trends" and added that the firm is hoping to increase awareness and penetration for the drug going forward.
In February, BMS submitted applications to the US Food and Drug Administration seeking approval for both drugs in new indications. The firm is pursuing a tumor-agnostic approval for Augtyro in NTRK-positive adult and pediatric solid tumors and is seeking approval of Krazati plus Eli Lilly's EGFR inhibitor Erbitux (cetuximab) in previously treated KRAS G12C-mutated locally advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer.
BMS's autologous CAR T-cell therapies Breyanzi (lisocabtagene maraleucel) and Abecma (idecabtagene vicleucel) reported mixed revenues in Q1. Breyanzi sales grew 51 percent to $107 million in Q1 2024 from $71 million in Q1 2023, helped by BMS's expanded manufacturing capacity following the cell therapy's approval as a third-line treatment for large B-cell lymphoma in 2021.
Meanwhile, sales of the multiple myeloma cell therapy Abecma dropped 44 percent in Q1 to $82 million from $147 million in the year-ago quarter. Elkins said the drug's performance in Q1 was affected by competitive pressure in the US, where Abecma competes with Johson & Johnson's CAR T-cell therapy Carvykti (ciltacabtagene autoleucel), and by "unfavorable pricing pressures to secure access" outside of the US.
In Q1, BMS garnered a new indication for Breyanzi in the US as a third-line treatment for relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma. The drug was previously approved as a third-line treatment for large B-cell lymphoma. Abecma also gained a new approval in an earlier-line multiple myeloma setting in the US and Europe in Q1.
BMS is also working to advance products it gained through another recent acquisition, radiopharmaceutical developer RayzeBio. BMS's Hirawat noted that the firm is enrolling patients with somatostatin receptor-expressing gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors and extensive-stage small cell lung cancer into late-stage trials of RayzeBio's lead candidate, RYZ101. Hirawat added that BMS expects to file an investigational new drug (IND) application for a second radiopharmaceutical agent, RYZ801, later this year.
"RayzeBio was an important strategic acquisition that we believe continues to diversify our oncology portfolio" Adam Lenkowsky, BMS chief commercialization officer, said during the call. "We see this as a modality that is going to continue to grow over time. It will be a competitive space, but what we liked about RayzeBio is this is going to be an IND engine." And with RYZ101 already in Phase III development, "this is tremendously complementary to our existing portfolio," Lenkowsky added.
BMS recorded a net loss in Q1 2024 of $11.91 billion, or $5.89 per share, due to costs related to closing the acquisition of neuroscience firm Karuna Therapeutics and payments made to SystImmune for its EGFR/HER3 bispecific antibody. In Q1 2023, the firm's net profit was $2.27 billion, or $1.07 per share. The company's adjusted loss per share in Q1 2024 was $4.40, slightly less than the consensus Wall Street estimate of $4.44.
As of March 31, BMS had $10.04 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable debt securities.
In 2024, BMS is still expecting revenue to increase in the low single-digit range. However, the company revised its diluted EPS guidance to $.40 to $.70 to account for the impact of recently completed transactions. Previously it had projected diluted EPS of $7.10 to $7.40.