Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS) and Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, a leading pharmaceutical company in China, announced an innovative strategic partnership to co-develop BMS-817378, a preclinical small molecule MET/VEGFR-2 inhibitor. This unique arrangement represents a creative approach to accelerate a preclinical oncology compound to clinical proof-of-concept by leveraging the complementary strengths of a premier Chinese pharmaceutical company and a global pharmaceutical company.

This partnership represents a novel development stage relationship for Bristol-Myers Squibb with a Chinese company, and a novel partnership approach for Bristol-Myers Squibb to leverage its early stage pipeline in support of its BioPharma strategy.

Under the terms of the agreement, Simcere receives exclusive rights to develop and commercialize BMS-817378 in China while Bristol-Myers Squibb retains exclusive rights in all other markets. The parties will together determine the strategic development plan, which will initially be performed by Simcere. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“This ground-breaking partnership demonstrates how a leading research and development based Chinese company can work together with a global pharmaceutical company to accelerate a drug development timeline and conduct first-in-human studies in China. This approach allows the partnership to leverage our well-recognized clinical and regulatory capabilities and our access to the vast patient pool in China,” commented Dr Peng Wang, chief scientific officer, Simcere Pharmaceutical Group.

“We are committed to working with companies in China in a creative and innovative fashion. This new partnership represents just such an example,” said Francis Cuss, senior vice president, Research, Bristol-Myers Squibb. “We are excited to embark on this partnership with Simcere. Working together we are building on the strengths of both organizations to develop potential medicines and help patients.”

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.

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group is a leading pharmaceutical company specializing in development, manufacturing, and marketing of branded generic and proprietary pharmaceuticals in China.