Covington Represents BMS in its Acquisition of Orbital Therapeutics

WASHINGTON—Covington advised Bristol Myers Squibb in its definitive agreement to acquire Orbital Therapeutics for $1.5 billion.

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.

The acquisition includes Orbital’s lead RNA immunotherapy preclinical candidate currently in IND-enabling studies, OTX-201, which comprises an optimized circular RNA encoding a CD19-targeted CAR for in vivo expression delivered via targeted lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). In addition, BMS will acquire Orbital’s proprietary RNA platform, which integrates circular and linear RNA engineering, advanced LNP delivery, and AI-driven design to enable durable, programmable RNA therapies tailored to the distinct biology of a broad spectrum of diseases.

The Covington team was led by Catherine Dargan, Drew Fischer, Megan Woodford, Winsome Cheung, and Ingrid Rechtin.