BMS Buys Turning Point Therapeutics For $4.1 Billion, Bringing In Lung Cancer Drug

Bristol Myers Squibb is back in the M&A game, nearly two years after its $13.1 billion acquisition of MyoKardia. This time, the drug giant is buying precision oncology company Turning Point Therapeutics for $4.1 billion, or $76 per share in cash. The acquisition gives repotrectinib, an investigational ROS1/NTRK inhibitor for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who test positive for ROS1. 

Repotrectinib is expected to be approved in the US in the second half of 2023 and become a new standard of care for patients with ROS1 NSCLC in the first-line setting, said BMS. The drug is expected to contribute to the company’s non-GAAP earnings in 2025. 

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ROS1/NTRK Rival to Pfizer, Roche

Repotrectinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) targeting ROS1 and NTRK oncogenic drivers of NSCLC and other advanced solid tumors. The drug has three Breakthrough Therapy Designations (BTD) from the US FDA in ROS1 or NTRK NSCLC, as well as an Orphan Drug Designation and four Fast Track Designations. 

According to Turning Point, patients treated with repotrectinib in the Phase 1/2 Trident-1 clinical study showed longer duration of response compared to existing ROS1 drugs in first-line NSCLC.

By acquiring reprotrectinib, BMS is setting itself up against Roche’s Rozlytrek (entrectinib) and Pfizer’s Xalkori (crizotinib), ROS1 inhibitors that have already been approved by the FDA for ROS1 NSCLC. 

With brain metastases being a common problem in patients with metastatic NSCLC, the ability of repotrectinib to penetrate the central nervous system (CNS) may become its main draw against entrectinib and crizotinib, the latter of which is limited by poor penetration in the CNS. Repotrectinib has shown efficacy in penetrating the CNS in preclinical studies, which may allow it to contend with the CNS-penetrant entrectinib. 

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Joy Lin

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