Bristol Myers Squibb Plans 10-Year Strategy to Expand Access to Medications

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Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) announced on May 22, 2024 that it is creating a 10-year plan—ASPIRE (Accessibility, Sustainability, Patient-centric, Impact, Responsibility and Equity)—to expand access to its therapies to more than 200,000 patients in low- and middle-income countries (LIMCs) by 2033. The ASPIRE plan will include strategies and the development of access plans to increase affordability and availability of BMS’ medicines in LMICs to ensure 100% of the company’s marketed products are supported by access plans.

BMS has introduced local brands of their drugs, with the company filing 11 local brands in 2023; five have received regulatory approvals. “BMS local brands are making an impact in countries [such as] Thailand, which has the highest prevalence of beta thalassemia, by providing treatment options [such as] Rojusna to help combat this widespread disease,” the company stated in a press release (1).

Part of the ASPIRE plan is for BMS to collaborate with the Access to Oncology Medicines (ATOM) Coalition to bring its cancer treatment, Opdivo (nivolumab), to Pakistan, Rwanda, Zambia, and other countries. ATOM is led by the Union for International Cancer Control and includes 40 global partners to address the challenges of availability, affordability, and appropriate use of oncology medicines.

“Access to potentially life-saving innovative medicines is very limited in some parts of the world, leaving patients with few treatment options for serious diseases [such as] cancer,” said Christopher Boerner, PhD, board chair and chief executive officer, Bristol Myers Squibb, in the press release. “Bristol Myers Squibb believes patients who can benefit from our medicines should have access to them. Our ASPIRE strategy is an important step toward accelerating and expanding patient access to these much-needed treatments.”

In countries where BMS does not have a commercial presence, the company is making its medicines available through the Direct Import and the Direct-to-Institution (DTI) pathways. BMS is providing 12 medicines using a tiered pricing commensurate to more than 80 LIMCs through the Direct Import pathway. The DTI pathway, which provides safe, broad, and timelier access to BMS medicines through collaboration with local institutions, includes efforts in five LMICs in East Africa and Pakistan and West Africa in 2025. The goal is to include more than 15 LMICs by 2026.

“By investing in solutions that reduce quality-of-care gaps and strengthen health systems, BMS will help drive equitable access to innovative medicines to patients around the world, regardless of where patients live. Enabling timely access to innovative medicines in LMICs is part of BMS’ commitment to health equity globally and our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy,” the company stated in the release.

In other recent BMS news, the company announced on April 22, 2024 that it is has established an agreement with Cellares, a US-based integrated development and manufacturing organization specializing in cell therapy manufacturing, to reserve global capacity and supply for manufacturing chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies. The deal is valued at up to $380 million in upfront and milestone payments (2).

References

1. Bristol Myers Squibb. Bristol Myers Squibb Announces 10-Year Strategy to Reach More Patients in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Press Release. May 22, 2024.
2. Bristol Myers Squibb. Bristol Myers Squibb and Cellares Announce a $380M Worldwide Capacity Reservation and Supply Agreement for the Manufacture of CAR T Cell Therapies to Bring the Promise of Cell Therapy to More Patients, Faster. Press Release. April 22, 2024.