Why Bristol Myers Squibb believes a decades-old drug can treat Alzheimer’s After a scientific odyssey, the pill could become a much-needed blockbuster for the company

https://www.statnews.com/2026/02/02/bristol-myers-squibb-facing-patent-cliff-big-bet-on-cobenfy/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-86UbBKAD5TzMce-3ysRAz9FXQewLxbEBw4aaS4edN_M7P74GUVZAxNN88NAL5d8ySLRYeVUhmEcjDRYjcpr8_jMfZHBQ&_hsmi=401485011&utm_content=401485011&utm_source=hs_email By Damian GardeFeb. 2, 2026 Reporter at Large Bristol Myers Squibb is betting yes. Later this year, the company will get the results from three pivotal studies on a pill that was first developed in the ’90s — before the DVD was invented, as STAT’s Damian Garde notes agedly. Bristol needs this one to be a blockbuster, as some of its biggest drugs will lose patent protection before the end of the decade. But Wall Street has some reservations. “Take a step back: It’s crazy to think we’re looking at a trial from the ’90s as a comp for something in 2026,” pharma analyst Evan Seigerman told Damian. “That’s the scary part.” But people who know the drug’s origin story might say success has been a long time coming. Read more from Damian on the decades-long journey that got the pill to Bristol. It involves a not-small amount of vomiting, a guy whose “one good idea in [his] life” was how to stop all the vomiting, and eventually, a Bristol CEO ready to go shopping.