Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

BMY/Roche plan phase-1/2 trial of Yervoy + Vemurafenib in BRAF-V600-positive metastatic melanoma:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/BristolMyers-Squibb-and-Roche-bw-1008267716.html?x=0&.v=1

Vemurafenib (f/k/a PLX4032) is the drug Roche licensed from Plexxikon that was the subject of a recent series in the NY Times (#msg-46899517, #msg-54567652). The phase-3 data (#msg-58950046) were sufficiently compelling that Daiichi Sanko bought Plexxikon for $935M in Mar 2011 (#msg-60475592). Vemurafenib works only for patients with the BRAF-V600 mutation, which is why the phase-1/2 combination study with Yervoy is limited to this subgroup.

Yervoy (k/k/a ipilimumab) was approved by the FDA for metastatic melanoma in Mar 2011 (#msg-61374021). It is probably BMY’s biggest scientific achievement of the past few years (#msg-50952010) and one of the five new drugs BMY is counting on to get over the Plavix patent cliff (#msg-61389408).