BMS collaborates with insitro to develop drugs for ALS

Bristol Myers Squibb has signed a five-year collaboration agreement with machine learning specialist insitro to develop drugs for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia.

Under the agreement, BMS will make an upfront payment to insitro of $50m, with insitro also eligible to receive a further $20m in near-term operational milestones, as well as over $2bn in further milestones and sales royalties.

Insitro will use its novel platform to develop induced pluripotent stem cell-(iPSC) derived disease models for ALS and frontotemporal dementia, with the aim of discover candidate targets.

This platform applies machine learning, human genetic and functional genomics to generate and optimise predictive in vitro models and aid therapeutic discovery and development.

BMS will then be able to select a number of targets to advance through clinical development and will also be responsible for regulatory submissions and eventual commercial activites.

“We believe that machine learning and data generated by novel experimental platforms offer the opportunity to rethink how we discover and design novel medicines,” said Richard Hargreaves, senior vice president, head of neuroscience TRC research and early development, BMS.

“There is an unmet medical need for therapies to treat ALS and FTD and we are excited by the prospect of working with Insitro’s team towards our shared goal of identifying transformative treatments for patients with these devastating diseases.”