Prime Medicine, Inc. has recently entered into a strategic research collaboration and license agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) to develop and commercialize multiple prime edited ex vivo T-cell therapies. The collaboration involves Prime Medicine designing optimized prime editor reagents for a select number of targets, including reagents that use its prime assisted site-specific integrase gene editing (PASSIGE) technology, while BMS will be responsible for the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of the next generation cell therapies.
Under the terms of the agreement, Prime Medicine will receive a $110 million upfront payment, with potential for more than $3.5 billion in milestones, including $1.4 billion in development milestones and more than $2.1 billion in commercialization milestones, along with royalties on net sales.
Prime Medicine will also receive a $55 million upfront payment and a $55 million equity investment from BMS. The company is eligible to receive more than $3.5 billion in milestones, including up to $1.4 billion in development milestones and more than $2.1 billion in commercialization milestones.
Prime Medicine's PASSIGE technology combines prime editing with an integrase or other site-specific recombinase to introduce large gene-sized cargo into the genome for stable cargo expression. It is delivered through a non-viral manufacturing process without introducing double-stranded DNA breaks or off-target edits, potentially enabling more precise and effective genetic modification.
The company's proprietary prime editing platform, a versatile, precise, and efficient gene editing technology, is being deployed to develop a new class of differentiated one-time curative genetic therapies. Prime editors have the potential to repair almost all types of genetic mutations and work in many different tissues, organs, and cell types.
Prime Medicine is currently progressing a diversified portfolio of investigational therapeutic programs organized around core areas of focus: hematology, immunology and oncology, liver, and lung. The company intends to maximize prime editing's broad and versatile therapeutic potential to efficiently expand beyond the diseases in its current pipeline, potentially including additional genetic diseases, immunological diseases, cancers, infectious diseases, and targeting genetic risk factors in common diseases. Today the company's shares have moved 14.2% to a price of $3.95. For the full picture, make sure to review Prime Medicine's 8-K report.
