Iberdomide has the potential to be the first approved CELMoD agent

The U.S. FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation and Priority Review for this indication and assigned a target action date of August 17, 2026

Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted a New Drug Application (NDA) for iberdomide combined with standard treatment (daratumumab + dexamethasone - IberDd) in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). Iberdomide is part of an investigational, new class of medicines called cereblon E3 ligase modulator (CELMoD) agents. The FDA has granted a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date of August 17, 2026 for this indication.

“The FDA’s acceptance of this application is a testament to the potential of iberdomide, in combination with anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies, as a novel, potent, oral treatment option, with a manageable safety profile, for patients with multiple myeloma,” said Cristian Massacesi, executive vice president and chief medical officer, Bristol Myers Squibb. “Furthermore, our filing for iberdomide based on the MRD endpoint, underscores our commitment to pioneering new ways of advancing life-saving therapies for patients living with cancer.”

The filing was based on results from a planned analysis of MRD negativity rates in the Phase 3 EXCALIBER-RRMM study evaluating iberdomide as a treatment for RRMM patients. The EXCALIBER-RRMM trial is ongoing and patients continue to be evaluated for progression-free survival (PFS).

The FDA also granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for iberdomide based on these data.

This review is being conducted under the FDA’s Project Orbis initiative, which enables concurrent review by the health authorities in several other countries.

Bristol Myers Squibb thanks the patients and investigators involved with the Phase 3 EXCALIBER study.

About EXCALIBER-RRMM

EXCALIBER-RRMM (NCT04975997) is a Phase 3, multicenter, two-stage, randomized, open-label study evaluating the efficacy and safety of iberdomide in combination with daratumumab and dexamethasone (IberDd) versus daratumumab, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (DVd) in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). The study is designed to assess dual-primary endpoints of minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity and progression-free survival (PFS), with additional secondary endpoints including overall survival (OS), overall response rate (ORR), duration of response (DoR), time to progression (TTP), time to next treatment (TTNT), and health-related quality of life (HR-QoL). Stage 1 of the study identified 1.0 mg iberdomide as the optimal dose based on safety, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy data. In Stage 2, approximately 664 patients were randomized to receive either IberDd or DVd.

About Minimal Residual Disease (MRD)

Minimal residual disease (MRD) refers to the small number of cancer cells that may remain in a patient’s body after treatment and are undetectable using conventional diagnostic methods. In multiple myeloma, MRD assessment has emerged as a highly sensitive and clinically meaningful tool for evaluating treatment response. MRD negativity does not necessarily mean all cancer cells are gone, but it may predict improved clinical outcomes, including longer remission and survival.

Modern MRD detection methods, such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) and next-generation flow cytometry (NGF), can identify one malignant cell among 100,000 (threshold for MRD) to 1,000,000 normal cells, offering unprecedented precision in measuring disease burden. MRD is increasingly being used in clinical trials as a surrogate endpoint for progression-free survival (PFS) and is gaining recognition from regulatory authorities for its role in accelerating therapeutic development.

About Targeted Protein Degradation and Novel CELMoD Agents

Targeted protein degradation (TPD) is a differentiated research platform at Bristol Myers Squibb built on more than two decades of scientific expertise, providing new avenues to degrade therapeutically relevant proteins that were previously considered "undruggable.” BMS is the only company that has successfully developed and commercialized protein degrader agents for the treatment of multiple myeloma. These agents, known as immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs), helped establish the current standard of care in the treatment of this disease, which remains without a cure. BMS is building on this foundation with several investigational protein degraders in clinical trials, leveraging three different modalities including CELMoD agents, ligand-directed degraders (LDDs), and degrader antibody conjugates (DACs). This three-pronged approach enables matching the right therapeutic modality to a molecular mechanism of action to modulate targets most effectively and ultimately provide more opportunities for potential breakthroughs that may offer meaningful new options for patients across a broad range of diseases, in and beyond hematology and oncology. Learn more about the science behind TPD at Bristol Myers Squibb here.

About Bristol Myers Squibb

Bristol Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information about Bristol Myers Squibb, visit us at BMS.com or follow us on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding, among other things, the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. All statements that are not statements of historical facts are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and projections about our future financial results, goals, plans and objectives and involve inherent risks, assumptions and uncertainties, including internal or external factors that could delay, divert or change any of them in the next several years, that are difficult to predict, may be beyond our control and could cause our future financial results, goals, plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the statements. These risks, assumptions, uncertainties and other factors include, among others, that iberdomide in combination with standard therapies may not achieve its primary study endpoints or receive regulatory approval for the indication described in this release in the currently anticipated timeline or at all, any marketing approvals, if granted, may have significant limitations on their use, and, if approved, whether such combination treatment for such indication will be commercially successful. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. It should also be noted that Breakthrough Therapy Designation does not change the standards for FDA approval. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many risks and uncertainties that affect Bristol Myers Squibb’s business and market, particularly those identified in the cautionary statement and risk factors discussion in Bristol Myers Squibb’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, as updated by our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made only as of the date of this document and except as otherwise required by applicable law, Bristol Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

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