LianBio Launches Strategic Review

LianBio, a leading biotechnology company, announced a strategic review after receiving $350 million from the termination of its mavacamten license agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb. This significant development has caused shares of LianBio to surge in premarket trading.

Under this agreement, Bristol Myers has acquired exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the heart drug in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand. This collaboration comes as LianBio terminates its previous agreement with MyoKardia that was signed in August 2020.

Bristol Myers, known for its substantial investment of over $13 billion in acquiring MyoKardia, successfully secured U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for mavacamten, also marketed as Camzyos, in 2022.

Alongside the substantial payment of $350 million, LianBio will no longer be responsible for fulfilling remaining milestone payments amounting to $127.5 million under the terminated license agreement.

To capitalize on these developments, LianBio's board has initiated a comprehensive strategic review of the company, which is based in Princeton, N.J. The results and progress of this review are expected to be announced in the first half of 2024.

Excitingly, LianBio's shares have seen impressive growth following this announcement, with a premarket trading increase of over 75%, reaching $2.44 from Monday's closing price of $1.39.