Five Prime Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing novel protein therapeutics for cancer and inflammatory diseases, and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) have signed a collaboration agreement for the discovery, development and commercialization of immuno-oncology therapies directed toward targets identified in two undisclosed immune checkpoint pathways using Five Prime’s proprietary target discovery platform.

BMS will leverage Five Prime’s platform to advance its existing immuno-oncology programs by identifying the most viable drug targets for continued research and development. Drug candidates developed against these new and existing targets may be studied either as single agents or in combination with existing or potential BMS immuno-oncology therapies.

“Immuno-oncology has the potential to be transformational in the treatment of cancer, and Bristol-Myers Squibb has an extensive clinical pipeline and discovery programs dedicated to maximizing this field of research,” said Francis Cuss, MB BChir, FRCP, executive vice president and chief scientific officer, BMS. “Five Prime’s innovative technology platforms complement our immuno-oncology pipeline and will help expand our understanding of promising new therapeutic options for patients.”

BMS will obtain exclusive, worldwide rights to develop and commercialize products directed toward certain protein targets identified by Five Prime prior to and during the collaboration. BMS will make an upfront payment of $20 million to Five Prime and provide up to $9.5 million in research funding. Additionally, BMS will pay approximately $21 million to acquire 4.9% of Five Prime’s outstanding common stock purchased at approximately a 30% premium. Five Prime will be eligible to receive up to $300 million in future development, regulatory and sales based milestone payments per collaboration target and tiered mid-single-digit rising to low-double-digit royalty payments on net sales of each product BMS commercializes.