Bristol-Myers to pay up to $286 million for Oncolys' festinavir HIV drug

US drug major Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) has entered into an agreement with privately-held Japanese biotech firm Oncolys BioPharma to acquire exclusive worldwide rights to manufacture, develop and commercialize festinavir, a once-a-day, orally available nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) in Phase II development for HIV.

Under the terms of the deal, Oncolys may receive up to $286 million including upfront, development, regulatory and sales milestone payments. It is also eligible for tiered royalties on the worldwide product sales.

“Bristol-Myers Squibb has been dedicated to helping patients prevail over HIV for more than two decades and is committed to the ongoing discovery, development and delivery of medicines to fight HIV/AIDS globally,” said Brian Daniels, senior vice president, development, at B-MS, adding: “The profile of festinavir offers the possibility of improvement in the safety of long-term HIV treatment, an area of significant unmet medical need.”