Pharmaceutical firm Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has agreed to purchase Forbius, a US-based cancer and fibrosis drug developer spun off by pharmaceutical company YM BioSciences, for an undisclosed amount.
Formed in 2011, Forbius has assembled a clinical and preclinical-stage portfolio of drug candidates for cancer and fibrosis, a disease in which connective tissue grown in place of normal organ tissue leads to permanent scarring.
The company’s most advanced product candidate, Avid200, has completed phase 1a clinical trials as a potential cancer immunotherapy and fibrosis drug, though BMS is initially focusing on the former condition.
Forbius was originally known as AvidBiologics and later rebranded to Formation Biologics, raising an undisclosed amount of series A funding from unnamed investors in 2012. Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners (TIAP) said this week that it invested in the company either 2011 or 2012.
TIAP’s Investment Accelerator Fund took part in a round of undisclosed size led by Lumira Capital in 2014 that included Rosseau Asset Management and undisclosed existing investors. Forbius closed a series B round of undisclosed size led by HBM Healthcare Investments in 2017.
A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.