Clinical-stage oncology company Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) has announced it is entering a strategic partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), focused on the discovery and development of novel T-cell engager therapies for solid tumours.
OBT will utilise its proprietary OGAP-Verify target discovery and validation platform to identify novel, tumour-selective targets for solid cancers and to develop next-generation T-cell engager molecules.
The company stated that the collaboration will extend beyond just discovery, with OBT taking responsibility for designing and delivering development candidates.
This underscores the company's evolution into a fully integrated platform for discovery and preclinical development.
The research, development and commercialisation activities related to these targets will be led by BMS.
According to the terms of the agreement, OBT will receive an upfront payment, which includes research funding, as well as the potential for significant milestone payments and royalties on commercialised products from BMS.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The collaboration with BMS marks OBT's third partnership with a major pharmaceutical company in the past 12 months, following strategic partnerships with GSK and Roche in 2025.
"Collaborating with Bristol Myers Squibb, a global leader in oncology, represents an important milestone for OBT and underscores the momentum behind our partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies," said Dr Christian Rohlff, CEO of OBT.
This new partnership builds on the proven strength of our platform to identify and validate highly differentiated, tumour-selective targets and reflects the growing confidence in our ability to translate that science into development-ready therapeutic candidates.
"By combining OGAP-Verify's discovery and validation capabilities with Bristol Myers Squibb's expertise in translating oncology innovation into clinical and commercial outcomes, we are confident that together we can advance a new generation of innovative cancer therapies that have the potential to make a meaningful difference for patients."
OBT's OGAP-Verify discovery platform enables highly sensitive identification of oncology targets with improved attributes for drug development, supporting the creation of differentiated antibody-based therapies.