U of M and BMS announce research breakthrough

The Univ of Montreal has announced a major breakthrough in its collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), New York NY. A team of scientists from BMS and the Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) are launching clinical trials for a new jointly discovered small molecule drug candidate acting on a novel therapeutic agent, triggering a milestone payment from BMS (R$, September 26/13). The project was supported by U of M and IRIC in Therapeutics Discovery (IRICoR), the commercialization unit of U of M's Unit for the Discovery of Medicines....

In a related development, IRIC has received $13.9 million from the provincial Fonds de partenariat pour un Québec innovant et en santé (FPQIS) to undertake projects aimed at developing novel medicines for improving population health over the next four years. The funding is explicitly targeted at R&D in collaboration with BMS and Merck and Co Inc.