Bristol-Myers Dumps Exelixis Drug

Bristol-Myers Squibb is backing out of a collaboration with Exelixis (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EXEL]]) to develop XL184 for cancer. The two companies “were not able to align on the scope, breadth and pace of the ongoing clinical development of XL184” because of progress in Bristol’s internal cancer drug pipeline, according to an Exelixis statement. Bristol will pay South San Francisco-based Exelixis $17 million to terminate the partnership. Bristol had already paid Exelixis $240 million as part of the deal first signed in December 2008, according to Reuters. Exelixis CEO George Scangos told the wire service that his company has the resources to develop XL184 on its own “for some time,” and added that it may find another partner.

Author: Luke Timmerman

Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.