Bristol-Myers Squibb Acquires Experimental NRTI Festinavir

		SUMMARY: Bristol-Myers Squibb announced last month that it has reached an agreement with Japan's Oncolys BioPharma to develop and manufacture festinavir (OBP-601), an experimental once-daily nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) originally discovered at Yale University that is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials.

Below is a press release issued by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Oncolys BioPharma describing the agreement.

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Oncolys BioPharma Enter
Global Licensing Agreement for Investigational HIV Compound

New York and Tokyo -- December 20, 2010 -- Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) and Oncolys BioPharma Inc., a privately held biotechnology company based in Japan, announced today that the companies have signed a definitive agreement under which Bristol-Myers Squibb will 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 agreement, Oncolys may receive up to $286 million including upfront, development, regulatory and sales milestone payments. Oncolys is also eligible to receive 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. "The profile of festinavir offers the possibility of improvement in the safety of long-term HIV treatment, an area of significant unmet medical need."

President and CEO of Oncolys BioPharma, Mr. Yasuo Urata said, "I'm honored to have completed this license agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb for the development and commercialization of festinavir. For many years I have been working for the development of medicines in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and I'm convinced that festinavir has the possibility to be a potent and effective NRTI with a promising resistance profile. Also festinavir's once-daily dosage is essential for treating HIV patients worldwide."

About Festinavir

Festinavir is a next-generation, orally available nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) in Phase II development for HIV. Early preclinical studies suggest that festinavir could have an improved safety profile over previous generations of NRTIs. Festinavir was licensed to Oncolys in 2006 from Yale University.

About Bristol-Myers Squibb

Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information, please visit http://www.bms.com or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bmsnews.

About Oncolys BioPharma

Oncolys BioPharma is a clinical-stage Japanese biotechnology company whose mission is to serve patients, and develop effective, innovative, and safe drugs through novel approaches with the goal of treating people worldwide from cancer and serious infectious diseases. Oncolys BioPharma focuses on the development and partnering of not only HIV drug but also anti-hepatitis C and anti-cancer drugs. For more information, please visit www.oncolys.com.