Bristol Myers Squibb is paying Prime Medicine $110 million upfront to develop reagents for ex vivo T-cell therapies. Prime, which could receive a whopping $3.5 billion in milestones, disclosed the deal alongside details of a pipeline prioritization intended to extend its cash runway into the first half of 2026.
BMS is partnering with Prime to further its work to unlock the potential of cell therapy in immunology and oncology. In return for the upfront payment, which is split evenly between a cash payment and equity investment, Prime will design optimized Prime Editor reagents for a select number of targets. The project includes reagents that use Prime Assisted Site-Specific Integrase Gene Editing (PASSIGE) technology.
PASSIGE combines Prime Editing, the biotech’s gene editing platform, with enzymes to introduce multi-kilobase cargoes into the genome. Prime delivers the technology using a nonviral manufacturing process and without introducing double-stranded DNA breaks or off-target edits. Keith Gottesdiener, the biotech’s CEO, discussed the appeal of PASSIGE at a Morgan Stanley event earlier this month.
“The fact that you can go in and you can make precise corrections that are therapeutic without, I like to say, mucking around elsewhere in the genome, we think it's going to be very important for both doctor and patient, and probably regulatory, acceptance of gene editing approaches,” Gottesdiener said.
The BMS deal, which features $1.4 billion in development milestones, is one of two events that have eased Prime’s cash concerns. Those worries reached the point that Prime recently warned investors of a substantial doubt about its ability to last 12 months. As well as bringing in cash via the BMS deal, Prime is taking steps to slow the rate at which money leaves its coffers.
In hematology, immunology and oncology, Prime is focusing on two ex vivo autologous hematopoietic stem cell programs for the treatment of different forms of chronic granulomatous disease. Initial clinical data on the most advanced of the assets are due in 2025. Prime has identified a Wilson’s disease program, which could enter the clinic in 2026, as the focus of its work on liver diseases. Funding from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will allow Prime to continue working in cystic fibrosis.
Beyond that, the company is looking for partnerships to advance programs. Prime’s pipeline features programs in glycogen storage disease 1b, retinitis pigmentosa and Friedreich’s ataxia that have reached lead optimization, plus discovery-stage projects in other indications.