Bristol-Myers Squibb (New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol: BMY) is an American biotech and pharmaceutical company that creates drugs in many areas like cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, and hepatitis. Bristol-Myers Squibb was born from the 1989 merger of Squibb (founded in 1858 in Brooklyn New York) and Bristol-Myers (founded in 1887 in Clinton, New York). The 2001 purchase of Delaware based DuPont Pharmaceuticals solidified the company’s already massive portfolio of medicines, creating what was then the world’s second biggest drug company.
An aggressive strategy of targeted acquisitions and partnerships has helped the company maintain one of Big Pharma’s most innovative and productive pharmaceutical drug pipelines. Top selling products including arthritis drug Orencia, HIV treatment Sustiva, and the cancer immunotherapy drug Yervoy brought in over $4 billion in revenue for the third quarter of 2015, up 4% from 2014. A massive boost in Research & Development (R&D) spending which focused in new immunotherapies for cancer has paid off massively in 2015 with a landslide of FDA approvals – from the approval of a remarkably potent new cancer immunotherapy called Opdivo to the first approval for a combination immunotherapy (Opdivo + Yervoy) for advanced melanoma. First mover status puts Bristol-Myers Squibb in a position to dominate an immuno-oncology market, which is predicted to grow to $30 billion or more by the year 2021. Beyond oncology, Bristol-Myers Squibb is looking to potential new blockbusters in therapies using its hepatitis C drug Daklinza, and blood thinning drug Eliquis.