Lawrence Township, New Jersey, recently held a ceremony to recognize Bristol Myers Squibb for 50 years of being part of the community. Mayor Patricia Hendricks Farmer led the event and presented a formal proclamation to Cari Gallman, Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs at the company. The township honored the pharmaceutical company for its long-term contributions to science, jobs, and community programs.
Bristol Myers Squibb, often called BMS, has been in Lawrenceville since the 1970s. Today, it operates its Global Corporate Headquarters and a second campus in the area.
Together, these two facilities employ about 5,000 people, many of whom live in or near Lawrence. Over the years, the company has played a strong role in supporting education, public safety, and health services.
During the ceremony, Mayor Farmer spoke about her personal connection to BMS. She worked at the company during college and saw how it supported local programs. She said BMS has been a consistent partner in helping the township grow.
In 2024, BMS provided over $100,000 in grants to the township. That money was used in several key areas, including local public schools’ science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs. The funding also helped the Lawrence Police Department and First Aid Squad buy CPR equipment and defibrillators, which are used in emergency medical situations.
Beyond its local efforts, BMS continues to focus on its main mission: creating new medicines for serious diseases. Employees are often asked, “Who are you working for?” This question reminds them that their work helps real people, many of whom are family or friends affected by illness.
One of the company’s major achievements in 2024 involved a drug called Opdivo. Opdivo is a type of cancer medicine called a PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor. In October 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of Opdivo with chemotherapy for patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
This approval was based on results from a Phase 3 study called CheckMate -77T. The study showed that this new treatment helped patients live longer without their cancer returning. That is important because NSCLC is the most common form of lung cancer, and even after surgery, more than half of patients see the disease come back.
Soon after the U.S. approval, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), which is part of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), gave a positive opinion of the same treatment.
If the European Commission agrees, this new Opdivo-based regimen will be approved across the European Union and nearby countries like Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein. The European decision is expected within two months of the CHMP recommendation.
BMS also worked on a new way to give Opdivo to patients. Instead of using an intravenous (IV) drip, they created a subcutaneous version injected under the skin. The FDA approved this version, called Opdivo Qvantig, in December 2024.
The European agency also gave a positive opinion on this method. The subcutaneous version is expected to be easier for patients and quicker to administer. In a clinical trial called CheckMate -67T, this form of the drug worked just as well as the IV version. In fact, it showed slightly better response rates in people with advanced kidney cancer.
Today, BMS operates in over 65 countries and runs clinical trials with more than 35,000 patients. The company introduced the first PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor in 2014. In 2015, it launched the first immunotherapy combination treatment using Opdivo and another drug, Yervoy.
