The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: <_ALACRA_META_ABSTRACT>Well, we have a number of questions to go over, partly, finance, partly commercial, but maybe, for you guys, let's just talk
about yesterday's news with respect to the Cobenfy study. That's the probably the more topical thing to -- give us some context
for kind of the trial amendments.
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: Yeah, maybe we'll focus first on that, on Cobenfy as a franchise. So in the schizophrenia settin, the -- maybe talk a little bit,
Adam, about you know the success so far as you -- wins along the way on things like formulary on adoption awareness. Then
we can get into maybe the investments that you're making in future studies for sure.
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: What's been the education cycle for given the novel mechanism, right, the muscarinic. Is there -- are there some neurologists,
physicians overall that still need a bit of an education of how the drug works. There hasn't been a lot of innovation, I guess,
in many years, and so you have to sort of prime the pump, so to speak. Are you still doing that, I guess? Are --
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: Gotcha. Makes sense. And I know you're -- so let's talk about the futures trials to to go after. So obviously, Alzheimer's, you
have the -- a lot of the multiple ADEPT studies but talk about the other indications. I know you guys were talking about at one
time bipolar. There's a lot of different other segments where the mechanism may work. Beyond the ones that you've announced,
are you thinking about making this, another five or six trials and maybe what would be on the docket?
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: Got you. And does the -- are you looking at the ADEPT studies looking to end of next year as a [gating] factor? Do you want
to see more positive Phase 3s before you decide to invest in future indications?
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: Okay, perfect. Well, let's take it a little bit higher level. So I know this internal R&D is a big component of the Bristol story and
the growing pipeline. Maybe David, if you talk a little bit about kind of the pushes and pulls on the P&L as we look to next
year. Obviously, you have the new product portfolio where there's a big investment and the success there commercially, but
I want to get your perspective of kind of some of the [puts and take].
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Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: So David, talk about the the the cost savings and I know a lot of companies have deployed things like AI to you know to to
drive efficiencies. To what degree have you guys gone all in on that and has that been more surprising or in line with kind of
what you thought in terms of the level of cost efficiency?
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Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: Yeah, of course. So the last sort of financial sort of P&L kind of question you mentioned, I mean the good cash, net cash, and
also cash flow -- but I wanted to ask you on capital deployment and you guys have done a ton of deals over the years. And
they've added a lot of exciting new products to the mix. Maybe where does this rank in the priorities now now that your new
growth portfolio has really new product portfolio has taken off, and are there spots that you're not in, but maybe would --
what's the level of the threshold for adding a [TA] or expanding on what you already have?
David Elkins - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co - Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Member of the Leadership Team
Yeah, it's another great question. And look, we think we have plenty of substrate within the TAs that we currently have. And
as you already said, we feel really good about where we are in that growth portfolio and what we have, just the number of
data readouts and just remind you, we have the potential for 10 new [enemies] by the end of the decade and 30 additional
indications by the end of the decade. So we do have a lot of substrate.
So from a business development perspective, we're going to continue to look for those areas where there's high unmet need,
where we think there's really good science from a modality perspective that can address it, and where we can add value and
bring down costs for the overall healthcare system.
A great example is just look at the deals that we've done this year, whether it's cell therapy we see as a tremendous potential
for us in immunology and doing orbital therapeutics by doing in vivo will really bring down the cost, the potential to bring down
the cost of cell therapy to bring it to a large market like in immunology. We have some really interesting early stage studies
that we're excited about that.
The other thing I would say is that, look, what we did on radio pharmaceuticals. We don't talk a lot about that huge opportunity
for us. We see it as an I&D engine. We added to that this year with Philochem. And then lastly I would say look at the BioNTech
partnership.
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Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: Okay, that's that's helpful. Well, let's talk about some of the assets and new product portfolio, and one of the questions we
get a lot is a sub-cu OPDIVO, the new launch -- new [antic]. So if you think about the -- maybe the access and initial kind of
demand, obviously the idea for you guys and for [Merck] too is to roll this out in patients that are maybe pre-metastatic, healthier
patients, but over time though, to potentially just let the metastatic kind of end of things, play out with respect to biosimilars.
But just talk about how you're setting the stage for that with the [Cubantic] launch tonight today.
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: Adam, can you sort of, I wouldn't say force, but can you [derive use] in one versus another, based on things like the [gross the
net] or discounts or volume or -- I'm trying to get a sense for how you can maybe further strike point, the Cubantic into the
paradigm.
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: Okay. That's helpful. Speaking with oncology, so cell therapy overall, you guys are among the largest cell therapy companies
out there on the back of the Celgene deal. Talk about maybe David, where this ranks kind of in your new product portfolio
like priorities with the investment that you're making. This isn't a category where you could sort of be passive here you have
to invest in infrastructure and manufacturing and and consistently, so may maybe talk about like the the priorities of where
this where this ranks.
David Elkins - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co - Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Member of the Leadership Team
Yeah, look, I mean the good thing is we're blessed with numerous modalities in oncology and hematology and this is an
important franchise for us and we've really focused -- that that's a dedicated team that doing that.
I'd say BREYANZI, it just -- tremendous success, the number of indications that are there, the broadest indications in its class.
I think the other thing is that we have follow on. We have [Arloce] which is due targeting, which we're really excited about.
And then as already talked about, [Nex PCD-19], we see that as the opportunity to go into autoimmune diseases. And then if
you throw on top of that, the in vivo that I was talking about with the orbital acquisition, being able to bring down those
manufacturing costs, it makes it a really attractive franchise for us.
So it's an important component to the overall growth story. And this is the great thing about us, I think whether it's immuno
oncology, whether it's cell therapy, radio pharmaceuticals, and even with isobrand with our [ADC], we have a lot of modalities,
which is what we've been focused on from a business development perspective, but as well as from an internal development
perspective that enables us to go after the most interesting science where there's that high unmet need.
And that's why we feel really comfortable about our growth trajectory as we exit this decade because we have a lot of breadth
and depth across really important tumor types.
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: Are there lessons to be learned from the pace of new Phase 3s and the development of Opdivo, the lessons to be learned
that you can translate here in terms of not be linear or just to more of a basket kind of approach to, am I hitting the right?
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: And Adam, you mentioned China and all the competition. And maybe David, when you think about, [BD back] to that question
that we've seen a ton of new products coming out of China in a ton of new deals. And then in the US it's kind of odd. We've
seen a lot of CVR kind of deals. So there -- we've seen some new structures emerge that really haven't been like that you
know widespread in the biopharma space over the past couple of years. How does Bristol think about sort of deal structure?
Do you -- and maybe give us some context for the emphasis of assets coming from China.
David Elkins - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co - Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Member of the Leadership Team
Yeah, look, I mean we're agnostic where the asset comes from. It's where is the most important science, where do you have
proof of concept, and what assets are available and then what value can be created from those.
So look, China is critically important. And if you look at the number of I&Ds that are coming out of China now globally, they're
becoming a greater percentage of the total and they could surpass the US by next year. So you can't just ignore any geographic
area, especially if they're producing that much science.
Secondly, from our perspective, we're putting scientists on the ground there. We have business development teams there.
We're looking for -- and it's a great way to get products into humans as quickly as possible to get the proof of concept. So it's
critically important to the development cycle as well.
That being said, look, there's a tremendous amount of science here in the United States and in Europe, and, we look across
the board to find the best science for that unmet medical need.
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: Yeah, and those are very large market opportunities. Is there -- do you want to turn the card over on those the next year before
you look at other potential indications, or is there, maybe a few other cardio indications that you can go after with no vaccine?
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: Yeah, AFib for sure seems like a major major, more of an unmet need than really than any other cardio verticals, I feel like.
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: So sticking with cardio, let's talk about [Kim's eyes] for a second. So the just with respect to new patient identification, are you
past some of the the initial investments in awareness? Are you looking more at the kind of access reimbursement type of --
like give us some a bit of a status update on the on the commercial and what's the good drivers from here.
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: Is the speed of diagnosis and as [docs] become more familiar with the sort of the symptom, the presentation, is that getting
better, is that accelerating, and if you talk about that in the context of maybe the OUS opportunity.
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: Is that something that you have to, go through FDA to sort of as a diagnostic tool, or is it just sort of an analytic that you can
put in that?
David Elkins - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co - Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Member of the Leadership Team
It's an analytic. It's a tool that the cardiovascular doctor uses at the end of the day to determine it.
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: Okay, that makes sense. And then maybe in the final few minutes, I know, David, we talked the beginning of this year, health
care policy was a topic du jour. We've had some great insights, with [Secretary Azar], yesterday, and then Marty on Tuesday.
Talk a little bit about where Bristol is with regard to the rest of the industry on the tariff, MSN, I know you guys have already
communicated that you're onshoring a lot of manufacturing and so bringing jobs over here, but maybe talk through kind of
where you are in that in that continuum.
David Elkins - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co - Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Member of the Leadership Team
Yeah, look, we continue to engage with the administration, but as well as policymakers broadly. And, a couple things I'd say
around this is one, we feel we're really good where we are from a tariff perspective. We have a very flexible supply chain as
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Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: One element to come out of that is there this year it does seem like there is a much more consumer driven kind of model
that's coming out of pharma and [big cat biotech]. Maybe talk about that as a strategy for Bristol? You have a lot of companies
that now have portals that you can go right into, but I think it just sort of connects a lot of payers and patients, but some are
more than that, right? Some are more of a drop ship kind of element. I don't know, but where does that rank in terms of riskful
sort of distribution and priority?
Question: Geoffrey Meacham - Citibank Cameroon SA (Douala Branch) - Analyst
: Awesome, David, Adam, thank you very much. Congratulations.
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