Bristol Myers Squibb recently reached an agreement to acquire Orbital Therapeutics, the former announced Friday.
Under the terms, BMS will pay $1.5 billion in cash at closing to acquire Orbital.
Orbital is a privately held biotechnology company pioneering a new generation of RNA medicines that reprogram the immune system in vivo. This enables treatments that provide the precision, control, and flexibility needed to address the underlying biology and unique complexities of each disease.
The acquisition includes Orbital’s main experimental RNA-based therapy, OTX-201, which is still in the early stages of testing. This treatment uses a specially designed circular RNA to create CAR T-cells inside the patient’s body, rather than in a lab. The goal is to make treatment easier and more accessible than current CAR T-cell therapies, which require complex lab work.
Bristol Myers Squibb will also gain Orbital’s advanced RNA technology platform. This system combines different types of RNA design, targeted delivery methods, and AI tools to develop long-lasting, customizable RNA treatments for many types of diseases.
BMS President Lynelle Hoch spoke on the partnership.
“With the acquisition of Orbital Therapeutics and its next-generation RNA platform, we have an incredible opportunity to make CAR T-cell therapy more efficient and accessible to more patients,” she said. “As a leader in cell therapy, we are uniquely positioned to evaluate multiple different platform approaches to induce immune reset in autoimmune diseases and continue to optimize in vivo technology in clinical development.”
