Mirati takeout offers BMS upside beyond KRAS drug

While BMS could still realize further upside from marketed drug Krazati via its deal to buy Mirati for $4.8 billion up front, the pharma also sees potential deeper in the biotech’s pipeline, including a PRMT5-targeting molecule that the companies believe could be a best-in-class therapy in many cancers.

The deal puts the strength of Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY) behind Mirati’s KRAS-targeting drug Krazati adagrasib, just days after an FDA advisory committee cast doubt on the conversion to full approval of competing drug Lumakras sotorasib from Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN). That could clear a path to wider market adoption of Krazati, which is in a Phase III confirmatory trial. Both drugs have accelerated approval to treat KRAS G12C-mutant non-small cell lung cancer in a second-line setting, and both are being tested in various indications, lines of treatment and combination regimens, including a PD-1 inhibitor combination in first-line NSCLC...