Overview

• Bristol Myers said it will buy privately held Orbital Therapeutics for $1.5 billion in cash.
• The acquisition includes OTX-201, a preclinical in vivo CAR-T candidate that uses circular RNA to encode a CD19 CAR delivered via targeted lipid nanoparticles.
• Bristol Myers will also gain Orbital’s RNA platform that integrates RNA engineering, LNP delivery and AI-driven design to enable programmable therapies.
• OTX-201 is in IND-enabling studies, with company materials suggesting first-in-human testing could begin in 2026.
• Bristol Myers shares fell about 1% after the announcement as a BMO analyst called the deal a strategic fit yet unlikely to change the near-term narrative due to logistical hurdles for autoimmune cell therapy.