(Bloomberg) -- Bristol Myers Squibb Co. said its new schizophrenia drug is off to a better start than similar recently launched treatments, in an early sign that its $14 billion purchase of Karuna Therapeutics is paying off.
The medication, to be sold under the name Cobenfy, was a key piece of Bristol’s acquisition of Karuna. US regulators approved Cobenfy in September, becoming the first new type of schizophrenia drug in seven decades.
“It’s tracking ahead of all the newly launched atypical antipsychotic analogs,” Chief Commercialization Officer Adam Lenkowsky said in an interview. Those would include drugs like Vraylar and Caplyta.
Cobenfy launched in late October, and Lenkowsky said he expected uptake to ramp up in the second half of this year. The feedback from doctors and patients has been “really strong and quite remarkable,” he said. Patients are switching from generic antipsychotic drugs to Cobenfy and reporting a reduction in hallucinations and delusions, improved clarity and the “ability to re-engage with family members.”
About 80% of schizophrenia patients are on Medicaid or Medicare. The drug is covered by more than 90% of Medicaid plans and by the early second quarter of this year should have “critical mass” with Medicare coverage as well.
Still, the company has more work to do. The biggest challenge, he said, is “upending the habit that physicians have had for decades.”
“There’s a lot of education that needs to be done,” he said. “It’s going to take some time for physicians to change prescribing habits.”
Bristol is also still looking for deals to find new sources of growth with top-sellers like Revlimid, Opdivo and Eliquis either facing or about to face generic competition.
“We don’t sit there and say ‘We’re going to do a big deal, we’re going to do a small deal,’” Chief Financial Officer David Elkins said.
“We look for where is the high unmet medical need that’s still out there in therapeutic areas where we have scientific expertise, commercial expertise,” he said, referencing treatments for cardiovascular conditions as an example of that.
After a flurry of deals in late 2023, including for Karuna and RayzeBio, Elkins said management spent last year incorporating those assets but that they haven’t stopped looking for more.
“We have a whole team here, meeting with a lot of our partnerships and meeting with other companies,” he said, calling their deals strategy “very active.”
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Catch all the Business News , Corporate news , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.