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BMS chief Chris Boerner figured it's necessary to put its recent clinical setbacks with Cobenfy and Camzyos "in proper context." On the heels of a clinical setback for Bristol Myers Squibb’s schizophrenia newcomer Cobenfy, the New Jersey pharma is serving up mixed results for the first three months of the year.Still, even as generics eat into sales of the company’s legacy medicines, BMS’ roster of recent launches continues to impress, and the drugmaker remains confident that Cobenfy can come out ahead of its recent defeat.While the Cobenfy stumble and another recent setback for Bristol’s cardiomyopathy drug Camzyos were “not the results we had hoped for,” there is a need to “put the results in proper context,” BMS chief Chris Boerner, Ph.D., said on a call with analysts Thursday.Although Cobenfy—which was approved as a monotherapy in September—failed to chart superior improvement over placebo in a phase 3 study testing the drug as an adjunctive treatment to atypicals in patients with inadequately controlled schizophrenia, the data remain “encouraging,” Boerner argued.In particular, the results from the late-stage Arise trial demonstrate a “noteworthy improvement” for most schizophrenia patients and reinforce the drug’s tolerable safety profile, the CEO explained.The study results—released earlier this week—did reflect a numerical improvement for the BMS drug, which was the centerpiece in the company's $14 billion acquisition of Karuna Therapeutics.“It’s important to remember there are no currently approved adjunctive therapies for schizophrenia,” Boerner added on the company’s call. “Our commercial strategy remains focused on monotherapy, which accounts for 70% to 80% of the market,” he said, noting that BMS aims to make Cobenfy “the foundational treatment” in the disease.BMS will continue to push Cobenfy toward new indications, too, and it's currently awaiting phase 3 data in Alzheimer’s disease psychosis.The company also plans to kick off a suite of “difficult studies” this year, including seven phase 3 trials for Cobenfy across three indications: Alzheimer’s agitation, Alzheimer’s cognition impairment and bipolar I.Those studies are expected to be underway by the middle of 2025, Boerner noted. On the commercial front, monotherapy remains “the most significant commercial opportunity” for Cobenfy, Bristol’s chief commercialization officer, Adam Lenkowsky, said on the call.BMS’ strategy for the drug—which reeled in $27 million in 2025 first quarter sales—involves progressively shifting Cobenfy into earlier lines of schizophrenia treatment, which is already playing out in prescription patterns, Lenkowsky pointed out.“Roughly 40% to 50% of the Cobenfy [being prescribed] today is now in second line, third line,” Lenkowsky said. “And so, physicians have also told us, both in research and through advisory boards, that missing the endpoint of the study would have no impact on model therapy usage or their willingness to use Cobenfy, particularly when you look at the safety of the study results.”So far, Cobenfy is enjoying a “nice start,” analysts at William Blair wrote in a note to clients Thursday. Analysts at Edward Jones concurred, noting that sales of the schizophrenia med “appear to be off to a good start, which is good to see” considering the recent setback in the clinic. The BMS execs gave their Cobenfy status report as the company posted $11.2 billion in first-quarter revenues for 2025, down 6% year over year. Breaking things down further, Bristol’s U.S. revenues fell 7%, while international sales dropped 2% during the quarter.Most of that decline can be attributed to generic competition facing legacy BMS drugs like Revlimid, Pomalyst, Sprycel and Abraxane, the company said in an earnings release. At the same time, however, BMS’ cadre of newer therapies—which includes Opdivo, Breyanzi, Reblozyl, Camzyos and now, Cobenfy—grew sales 16% to $5.6 billion for the quarter.Despite the revenue downturn, BMS is raising its guidance from roughly $45.5 billion in projected 2025 sales to a range of $45.8 billion to $46.8 billion. Bristol attributed the forecast upgrade to strong performance from its up-and-comer meds, plus “better-than-expected” sales from its legacy portfolio in Q1. On that surprise showing from BMS’ legacy medicines, the analyst team at William Blair noted that Revlimid’s first-quarter sales haul of $936 million beat their expectations, signaling that generic erosion for the drug has proven “lumpy and variable.”Meanwhile, BMS factored in the impact of retaliatory tariffs from China in its updated forecast, though the new guidance doesn’t account for any potential pharmaceutical tariffs, the William Blair team noted. 

A new, closely watched schizophrenia medication from Bristol Myers Squibb sold well in its first full quarter on the market, according to both the company and analysts.In its latest earnings report, Bristol Myers recorded $27 million in net sales from Cobenfy during the three-month period between January and March. Chief Financial Officer David Elkins called that a solid start and said the weekly number of Cobenfy prescriptions remains strong, tracking ahead of all branded specific benchmarks. As of April 11, that number was 1,655.Matt Phipps, an analyst at the investment firm William Blair, echoed those sentiments in a note to clients, describing the results as a nice start. David Risinger, of Leerink Partners, noted that the sales total was 48% above the average analyst estimate.The drugs success is imperative for Bristol Myers, which has watched generic competition erode one of its most lucrative products, the blood cancer treatment Revlimid. Two of its other top-selling medicines,the blood thinner Eliquis and the cancer immunotherapy Opdivo, are also poised to lose patent protection in a few years. Across its whole business, Bristol Myers recorded $11.6 billion in revenue in the first quarter, a 6% decline from the same period last year.Bristol Myers sees Cobenfy as a major product, hence why the company recently shelled out $14 billion to acquire its developer, Karuna Therapeutics. Analysts also have blockbuster expectations, though those were tempered a bit this week when the drug stumbled in testing.Having already secured an approval in schizophrenia, Bristol Myers has been trying to show Cobenfy has a range of other uses. Those include treating bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorder, symptoms associated with Alzheimers disease, or even being layered onto other antipsychotics for schizophrenia patients.In that last category, however, a nearly 400-person clinical trial just found Cobenfy was not significantly better than a placebo. To some analysts, the setback erases billions of dollars in potential revenue.Perhaps expectedly, Bristol Myers leadership talked down the study failure on a call with investors Thursday. Chief Commercialization Officer Adam Lenkowsky said schizophrenia monotherapy remains the most significant opportunity, accounting for 70% to 80% of the patients treated with Cobenfy.What happens in the real world? Psychiatrists exhaust monotherapy options before trying adjunctiveuse, Lenkowsky said. That's exactly what we've been seeing in the market.Physicians have also told us, both in research and through advisory boards, that missing the endpoint of the study would have no impact on monotherapy usage or their willingness to use Cobenfy, he added.More broadly, Bristol Myers upped its revenue forecast for the year by 2%, to a range of about $45.8 billion to $46.8 billion. The raise was based on operational sales as well as the impact of foreign exchange rates.During the investor call, analysts also pressed the company about its plans to navigate the current political environment, especially Trump administration tariff policies. The U.S. pharmaceutical industry has so far avoided the worst of the tariff impact, but there are strong signs it could get caught in the crosshairs before too long.We have been up investing in core infrastructure in the U.S. for many years. So we need to ensure that, ultimately, our trade policies enhance the sector and support efforts like the ones we've been making, CEO Chris Boerner told investors.In terms of our exposure, again, what we've said is the tariffs that have gone into place, namely around China, have been reflected in the guidance that we provided today, Boerner added.It really is simply too early to provide a lot more on pharma-specific sectors, so we'll have to wait for the specifics there.Bristol Myers shares were about flat as of late Thursday morning, trading a little above $48 apiece. '