Clinical Research Associate

BMS reports liver injury events in lung disease program, with key readout near. October 1, 2026 | Bristol Myers Squibb will soon release Phase 3 data for admilparant that could make or break Contineum Therapeutics' rival product. But reports of a death due to liver injury in the pharma's program have caused some unease about the drug class. Bristol Myers Squibb has amended the protocol for a Phase 3 clinical program testing pulmonary fibrosis candidate admilparant, reporting multiple cases of liver injuries, including one death. But the study has yet to be fully unblinded, leaving the cause of the events unclear at this time, the company said. The disclosure unsettled investors in Contineum Therapeutics, which is developing a similar product, due to fears about a potential class-wide effect. The issue came to light this week, despite the protocol change being made in May. BMO Capital Markets analysts flagged the issue in a Wednesday note, suggesting that too many questions remain unanswered to determine if admilparant caused the liver issues. "A limited number" of liver events have been observed in the Phase 3 ALOFT program, BMS confirmed to BioSpace in an emailed statement. Most were mild, transient and linked to other medical conditions or in patients taking other medications that have known liver risk factors. There was one death, reportedly due to multi-organ failure after acute liver injury, but it's unclear whether the patient was taking admilparant because BMS is still blinded to the data. "Without identifying whether the patient was on treatment, investors cannot clearly assume this acute hepatic injury-driven death was tied to admilparant or even associated with treatment," BMO wrote. The protocol amendment flagged interstitial lung disease and multiple other comorbidities as complicating factors related to the death. BMS is barreling toward a clinical trial readout that an H.C. Wainwright analyst believes could contribute to the return of mergers between mega-cap drugmakers. September 2, 2026 The independent data monitoring committee, however, has been reviewing incoming unblinded data regularly and has recommended that the trial continue, BMS said. Another committee has been created to specifically look at potential liver injury, BMO noted. The ALOFT program features multiple pulmonary fibrosis indications, with a near term readout for the Phase 3 ALOFT-IPF study in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis "likely to be significant" for BMS, BMO said. The firm remains cautious about that readout, which is expected in the fourth quarter. "Limited information on potential drug-related liver injury raises overall risk of ALOFT program, but data remains on track for a 4Q26 disclosure," BMO said. While analysts note that admilparant is one of BMS' most important near-term catalysts, BMO said fourth quarter data for the secondary stroke prevention candidate milvexian is a higher priority. A class action? BMS investors are not alone in awaiting the ALOFT-IPF readout, with the protocol amendment raising some questions about the lysophosphatidic acid receptor 1 (LPA1-R) class. Contineum Therapeutics is developing a rival therapy called PIPE-791, currently in a Phase 2 trial called PROPEL-IPF. BMS' protocol amendment sent Contineum's shares down sharply on Wednesday, Stifel said in an investor note. The stock has since recovered to $13.42 as of Thursday morning, slightly above its closing price Tuesday. The ALOFT-IPF outcome "is core to the CTNM thesis for PIPE-791," Stifel said. But the firm does not believe the evidence so far suggests that the LPA1-R mechanism is the culprit. While expressing disappointment, William Blair analysts were unsurprised by the Phase II failure, having assigned the VISTA study a high level of risk given the "mixed" performance of a similar drug in a prior multiple sclerosis study. November 21, 2025 Contineum's therapy also has a different molecular makeup and much lower dose, so Stifel downplayed any readthrough. William Blair caught up with Contineum CEO Carmine Stengone, who similarly brushed off concerns. "We continue to believe there is minimal on-mechanism risk here and that this potential signal is molecule and dose specific, if anything, which bodes well for PIPE-791 differentiation," the firm wrote in a Thursday morning note. If BMS' forthcoming readout is positive, William Blair believes it will help derisk the LPA1-R mechanism in IPF. The indication is currently served by Boehringer Ingelheim's Ofev and Jascayd and Legacy Pharma's Esbriet. Stengone estimated a total addressable market of $10-14 billion, if PIPE-791 clears clinical trials and becomes standard-of-care. Annalee Armstrong is an award-winning biopharma journalist covering the business of drug development. She has been a journalist for more than 18 years, covering the pharmaceutical and biotech industry for the last eight. She is senior editor at BioSpace and curates the Biopharm Executive newsletter every Wednesday. You can reach her at [email protected]. Follow her on LinkedIn.

Bristol Myers Squibb edges up as its income case returns. Bristol Myers Squibb was flagged as a high-yield healthcare holding for income portfolios as its shares traded at 63.00 on Sept. 30, up 0.22% while the Dow slipped. Bristol Myers Squibb shares traded at 63.00, up 0.22% on the day, on Sept. 30, 2026, as Investor's Business Daily named the drugmaker a high-yield, stable-fundamentals pick for income investors. Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) was singled out on Tuesday as a candidate for income-focused portfolios in healthcare, a sector that has spent much of this cycle overshadowed by technology. The stock changed hands at 63.00, up 0.22% from the previous close of 62.86, as of the last trade at 17:40 GMT on Sept. 30, 2026. The argument, laid out by Investor's Business Daily, is straightforward: investors hunting for a high yield backed by stable fundamentals in healthcare do not need to look past Bristol Myers Squibb. It is a familiar pitch for large-cap pharma, and it deserves to be examined on its own terms rather than accepted as a category truth. What the tape said on the day. The session was a quiet one for the stock but a revealing one for the market around it. Bristol Myers traded between 62.87 and 64.13, a band of roughly 2.0% between the day's low and high - active enough to show real two-way interest, but the close-to-close move of 0.22% suggests the buying and selling largely cancelled out. Context matters here. The S&P 500, proxied by SPY, was at $767.52, up 0.43% from a previous close of $764.20. The Nasdaq 100 tracker QQQ sat at $743.26, up 0.72%. The Dow 30 proxy DIA was the outlier, down 0.20% at $511.88. That split - growth indices higher, the blue-chip average lower - is the pattern that has repeatedly left large-cap pharma looking cheap relative to the broader market and has kept dividend yields in the sector elevated. A stock that edges up while the Dow slips is doing its job for the kind of investor this thesis targets. Income buyers are not looking for the day's biggest percentage gain. They are looking for a share price that does not destroy the value of the coupon they are collecting. Why yield alone is the wrong test. The phrase "high yield" in equities is a warning as often as it is an invitation. A dividend yield rises for two very different reasons: the company raises its payout, or the share price falls. The second is far more common among the highest-yielding names in any screen, and it is how income investors end up owning businesses in structural decline while telling themselves they are being paid to wait. That is why the second half of the IBD framing - stable fundamentals - carries most of the weight. For a large pharmaceutical company, stability comes down to a handful of testable things: * Cash conversion. Whether operating cash flow comfortably exceeds the cash sent out as dividends, rather than being topped up by debt or asset sales. * Revenue concentration. How much of the top line depends on a small number of drugs, and how close those drugs are to losing exclusivity. * Pipeline replacement. Whether late-stage candidates and recent approvals can plausibly fill the gap when older products go generic. * Balance-sheet room. Whether the company can fund acquisitions to buy growth without putting the dividend in the queue behind creditors. Those four questions are the whole ballgame for pharma income stocks, and they are also the reason the sector trades at a discount to the market. The uncertainty is not about this quarter's earnings. It is about what the revenue base looks like several years out, which is precisely the horizon an income investor cares about. The patent cliff is the variable that matters. Those four questions are the whole ballgame for pharma income stocks, and they are also the reason the sector trades at a discount to the market. Every major drugmaker lives on a schedule set by patent expirations. Exclusivity ends, generics or biosimilars enter, and a product that generated billions can lose the majority of its revenue in a short span. The market prices this risk in advance, which is one mechanism by which a pharma dividend yield gets pushed up without the company doing anything wrong. For an investor evaluating Bristol Myers on income grounds, the question is not whether the current dividend is covered - for a company of this size it almost certainly is today - but whether it remains covered through the next expiration cycle. That depends on how much of the revenue base is exposed, over what timeframe, and what is behind it in development. Those are answerable questions from company filings, and any reader acting on a high-yield thesis should answer them before buying rather than after. It is also worth noting what a dividend is not: a contract. Boards cut payouts when cash flow demands it, and pharmaceutical companies have done so when major products fell off patent without adequate replacement. The historical record of a rising dividend is evidence of intent, not a guarantee of continuation. How the trade fits a portfolio. The practical case for holding a large-cap drugmaker in an income sleeve is diversification of risk, not maximisation of yield. Healthcare demand is relatively insensitive to the economic cycle, which means revenue tends not to collapse alongside consumer spending or industrial activity. In a portfolio where dividend income is concentrated in banks, energy and utilities, a pharma holding is exposed to a genuinely different set of variables: regulatory decisions, clinical outcomes and drug pricing policy rather than interest rates and commodity prices. The offsetting risk is that those variables are lumpy. A single failed trial readout or an adverse regulatory decision can reprice a large-cap pharma stock in a day by more than a year's dividend income. That is the trade an income investor in this sector is actually making, and it is not the same as the low-drama profile the "stable fundamentals" label implies. What to watch from here. Three things will determine whether this thesis ages well. First, the next dividend declaration and any change to the rate - a raise confirms confidence, a hold signals caution. Second, the company's own disclosure of expected revenue erosion from loss of exclusivity, which sets the bar the pipeline must clear. Third, the relative performance of healthcare against the growth indices. As long as QQQ is outrunning the Dow, pharma yields are likely to stay generous - and investors will keep having to work out whether that generosity is compensation for risk or a genuine mispricing. Key facts. * BMY last trade: 63.00, +0.22% (as of 17:40 GMT, Sept. 30, 2026) * Day range: 62.87 - 64.13; previous close 62.86 * Benchmarks: SPY $767.52 (+0.43%), QQQ $743.26 (+0.72%), DIA $511.88 (-0.20%) * Thesis: High yield plus stable fundamentals in healthcare, per Investor's Business Daily Frequently asked questions. What was Bristol Myers Squibb's share price on Sept. 30, 2026? Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) last traded at 63.00, a gain of 0.22% from the previous close of 62.86, as of 17:40 GMT on Sept. 30, 2026. The stock moved between 62.87 and 64.13 during the session, a modest band that indicated active two-way trading without a decisive directional move. Why is Bristol Myers Squibb being discussed as an income stock? Investor's Business Daily presented the drugmaker as a choice for investors seeking a high dividend yield combined with stable fundamentals within healthcare. Large-cap pharmaceutical companies typically generate substantial operating cash flow and pay consistent dividends, which places them in the same portfolio category as utilities and banks for income-focused buyers. Does a high dividend yield always signal a good investment? No. A dividend yield rises either because a company increases its payout or because its share price falls. The second cause is far more common among the highest-yielding stocks on any screen. Investors should check whether operating cash flow comfortably covers the dividend before treating a high yield as an opportunity rather than a warning. What is a pharmaceutical patent cliff? A patent cliff is the point at which a drug loses market exclusivity and generic or biosimilar competitors can enter. Revenue from that product can fall sharply within a short period. Because major drugmakers often depend on a handful of products, the timing of these expirations is one of the largest variables in valuing a pharma stock. How did the broader market perform that day? Growth indices outperformed blue chips. The S&P 500 proxy SPY rose 0.43% to $767.52 and the Nasdaq 100 tracker QQQ gained 0.72% to $743.26, while the Dow 30 proxy DIA fell 0.20% to $511.88. Bristol Myers edging higher against a declining Dow was a relative positive for the session. What should an income investor check before buying a pharma dividend stock? Four things: whether operating cash flow exceeds dividends paid, how concentrated revenue is in a few products, how close those products are to patent expiry, and whether the balance sheet has room to fund acquisitions without threatening the payout. All four are disclosed in company filings and should be verified before purchase.