Singapore: Bristol-Myers Squibb, a US-based pharma giant declared that it had inked a strategic accord with Japan's Ono Pharmaceutical to jointly develop and commercialize multiple immunotherapies as single agents and combination regimens to address the needs of cancer patients in Asia.

The firms plans to manufacture and commercialize Opdivo (nivolumab) and Yervoy (ipilimumab) that treats a broad range of tumors.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Opdivo is approved in Japan to treat melanoma making it the first PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor to receive regulatory approval in the world, and is being developed in multiple tumor types in more than 35 clinical trials.

Yervoy has received approval in Taiwan for treatment of patients with advanced melanoma and lung cancer. The firms aim to develop a monotherapy regimen with the two drugs and leverage global clinical trials by involving people from three countries namely, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.