Bristol Myers’ $1.5 billion restructuring initiative that runs through 2025 may not be the end of the company’s ongoing efficiency push.
BMS management is “reviewing overall spending and prioritizing investments that will deliver the best long-term returns,” CEO Chris Boerner, Ph.D., said during a call Thursday. The New Jersey-based pharma is on track to deliver on its existing $1.5 billion cost-saving target by the end of next year, the CEO confirmed.
“We see the drive for greater operational excellence as a continuous process,” Boerner continued. “As such, we are exploring opportunities to further improve productivity and efficiency over the coming quarters.”
Later during the call, CFO David Elkins said BMS is “continuing to look for efficiencies in our cost base, and you’ll continue to hear more about that.”
Since unveiling the $1.5 billion overhaul in April, BMS has disclosed several rounds of layoffs, including most recently a plan to remove 79 staffers in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. BMS expects to achieve the majority of the savings this year, Elkins said.
BMS is sharpening the cost-savings ax as the company becomes “more agile” thanks to newer drugs and pipeline progress, according to Boerner.
The company’s growth portfolio, which includes 16 drugs, put on a strong commercial performance during the third quarter by growing sales 18% year over year to $5.8 billion. The drugs generated about 49% of BMS’ total quarterly revenues.
Even BMS’ legacy portfolio managed a 1% sales increase, as both Pfizer-partnered blood thinner Eliquis and off-patent Revlimid beat analysts’ expectations.
Struggling CAR-T therapy Abecma finally showed some life, too. After several quarters of declines, the multiple myeloma therapy saw sales jump 33% year over year to $124 million. Yet it was still no match to Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech’s Carvykti, which delivered $286 million in sales during the third quarter, good for 88% growth year over year.
During Thursday’s call, analysts spent some time asking about the newly FDA-approved schizophrenia drug Cobenfy, which BMS believes holds multibillion-dollar peak sales potential.
Unlike many commercial drugs that are wired through pharmacy benefit managers, about 80% of Cobenfy's patients will come from either Medicare or Medicaid, BMS’ chief commercial officer, Adam Lenkowsky, explained on the call. Based on that market distribution, BMS expects to take about a year to achieve 80% to 85% coverage access for Cobenfy, with sales ramping up during the second half of 2025, he said.
As one analyst and Lenkowsky noted, there’s no perfect analog to benchmark Cobenfy’s launch trajectory because other recent rollouts in the field featured existing mechanisms while Cobenfy is a first-in-class drug that targets cholinergic receptors. Rather than beginning with major depressive disorders, Cobenfy’s approval cadence is also going to be different—starting first in schizophrenia as a monotherapy, then as an adjunctive therapy. BMS expects the phase 3 ARISE trial using Cobenfy in the adjunctive setting to read out in 2025.
Beyond schizophrenia, BMS’ ADEPT program for Cobenfy in Alzheimer’s disease psychosis could read out in 2026. And the company plans to start three additional phase 3 trials in bipolar I disorder, Alzheimer’s disease agitation and Alzheimer’s disease recognition next year, chief medical officer Samit Hirawat, M.D., said on the call.
After the third quarter, BMS increased its 2024 guidance. The company now expects revenues to increase by about 6% excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates, versus its previous projection of about 3% to 4%.