Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Alethia Young said she was surprised by the FTC pushback around Otezla and its overlap in psoriasis related to Celgene's (CELG) oral TYK2 program BMS-986165 in psoriasis given that the latter has not yet reported Phase 3 data. After speaking to Bristol-Myers (BMY), Young said management was also disappointed in this FTC decision, which they said was not related to current asset Orencia marketed for rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis. Though timelines are delayed, she still sees "a high likelihood" that the deal closes, but potentially 4-6 months behind schedule. Young, who sees many players in Inflammation & Immunology that could leverage oral Otezla with their existing salesforce, added that Bristol may not lose much in value from this divestiture if the process is competitive. She keeps a Neutral rating and $100 price target on Celgene shares.

Bristol Myers Squibb and Cellares, a development and manufacturing organization dedicated to clinical and industrial-scale cell therapy manufacturing, announced a worldwide capacity reservation and supply agreement for the manufacture of CAR T cell therapies in a transaction valued up to $380M in upfront and milestone payments. As part of the agreement, Cellares will optimize, automate, and tech-transfer select Bristol Myers Squibb CAR T cell therapies onto its automated and high-throughput manufacturing platform, the Cell Shuttle. Cellares will dedicate multiple Cell Shuttle and Cell Q systems with fully automated, high-throughput quality control for Bristol Myers Squibb's exclusive use. The Cell Shuttles and Cell Qs will be deployed in Cellares' Smart Factories in the U.S., EU, and Japan. This agreement expands upon the existing collaborations between Bristol Myers Squibb and Cellares. In August 2023, Bristol Myers Squibb participated in Cellares' Series C financing to launch the first IDMO Smart Factory in an effort to meet the demand for cell therapies globally. That same month, Bristol Myers Squibb joined Cellares' Technology Adoption Partnership Program to evaluate the Cell Shuttle's automated manufacturing capabilities.