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Dive Brief:Bristol Myers Squibb and investment firm Bain Capital have joined forces to form a new biotechnology startup built around five of the pharmaceutical companys experimental immune disease drugs.According to Bristol Myers, the yet-to-be-named company will start with a $300 million funding commitment led by Bain Capital, three clinical-stage drug prospects and two Phase 1-ready medicines. The drugs target promising mechanisms in autoimmune diseases like lupus, plaque psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, the firms said Monday.Bristol Myers will get a 20% equity stake in the startup and could receive milestones tied to the success of the five drug programs and royalties on any eventual sales. Dan Lynch, a former Bristol Myers executive, will serve as its executive chairman and interim CEO.Dive Insight:One of the many ways to build a biotech startup involves plucking ready-made drugs from the shelves of pharmaceutical companies and surrounding them with an executive team devoted to their progress.That strategy eliminates the lengthy and costly drug discovery process, giving venture investors the chance at quicker returns. It also enables large drugmakers to cash in on pipeline projects that might have stalled or may no longer be a strategic fit.Since its formation eight years ago, Bain Capitals life sciences division has employed this plan multiple times. In 2017, it teamed up with Pfizer and other investors to launch Springworks Therapeutics along with four of the pharmaceutical companys experimental therapies. A year later, Bain Capital again joined with Pfizer to co-found Cerevel Therapeutics around a group of neuroscience drugs. Both have been acquired in multibillion-dollar deals since 2023.(Bain Capital has also built companies, like Aiolos Bio and Timberlyne Therapeutics, around medicines in-licensed from China.)Bain Capital is hoping for similar success with a handful of drugs that dont match Bristol Myers future plans. The three already in clinical testing are afimetoran, which blocks a pair of toll-like receptors and is being developed for lupus; a drug that, like Bristol Myers marketed medicine Sotyktu, inhibits TYK2; and an IL2 fusion protein being studied against lupus and atopic dermatitis. Two other biologics ready for testing target the signaling proteins IL8 and IL10, respectively.These assets have significant potential, and we are confident that this new company will drive their development to ensure greater impact for patients, said Bristol Myers senior vice president of business development, Julie Rozenblyum, in a statement. Bain Capitals exceptional track record in building successful life science companies by providing focused development and dedicated resources makes them ideally suited to advance these assets to realize their full promise.While Bristol Myers intends to continue investing in immunology, the company has made a strategic shift to focus on drugs with the potential to “reset the immune system and promote tissue repair, it said in the statement. Those programs include a cell therapy for autoimmune diseases and a multifunctional antibody for so-called IgG4-related disease that its working on with Zenas Biopharma.Robert Plenge, Bristol Myers executive vice president and chief research officer, will serve on the spinoffs board along with Lynch. Bain Capitals Nicholas Downing, Adam Koppel and Andrew Kaplan are also directors. '

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced that its leading biologic drug, Ilumya (tildrakizumab-asmn), achieved the primary endpoint in both INSPIRE-1 and INSPIRE-2 Phase 3 clinical studies for active psoriatic arthritis (PsA). At Week 24, patients receiving Ilumya experienced statistically significant improvements over placebo, as measured by the ACR20 response—indicating at least a 20% reduction in tender and swollen joints and other disease indicators. Ilumya, a selective IL-23 inhibitor, blocks key inflammatory pathways in autoimmune conditions. Already approved for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, the drug generated $681 million (₹5,750 crore) in FY25, accounting for 56% of Sun Pharma’s specialty drug revenue. Sun Pharma’s global specialty chief, Marek Honczarenko, highlighted that these results reinforce Ilumya’s potential as a new therapeutic option for PsA. Full trial data will be shared at upcoming medical conferences. Competition is intensifying in the psoriatic arthritis market, with Bristol Myers Squibb’s oral TYK2 inhibitor Sotyktu also meeting ACR20 response in late-stage trials and achieving $246 million in 2024 sales. As both injectable and oral therapies advance, patients could soon benefit from more effective and diverse treatment choices.