By Townhall Chicago News Staff
Chicago-based Tempus AI announced Thursday a multi-year agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb under which the pharmaceutical company will license multimodal oncology data from Tempus through 2031 to support drug discovery and therapeutic development.
The deal makes Bristol Myers Squibb one of Tempus’s largest licensors of de-identified oncology data and significantly expands a strategic relationship that already spans clinical trial design and neuroscience initiatives, according to an Oct. 23 Tempus news release.
Under the agreement, Bristol Myers Squibb will gain access to Tempus’s Lens Platform, an AI-driven environment for oncology drug development built on one of the world’s largest real-world multimodal datasets. The platform connects to high-performance GPU infrastructure, allowing researchers to train and run advanced AI models on de-identified patient data, according to the release.
“By uniting our vast multimodal data asset with dedicated GPU power inside our Lens Platform, we are equipping BMS with the AI tools necessary to decode complex biology,” Tempus founder and CEO Eric Lefkofsky said in the release. “Together, we aren’t just speeding up drug discovery, we are laying the foundation for a future where precision oncology becomes the standard of care for every patient.”
The agreement encompasses both oncology and neuroscience work. According to an SEC filing Tempus submitted Thursday, the deal consists of three components: an oncology data statement of work worth $137.5 million, a $55 million neurology data order form executed through Tempus affiliate Pathos AI, and a side letter among the three parties. The aggregate cash payments total $192.5 million over approximately five years, according to the filing.
The oncology agreement runs through Dec. 31, 2031. Bristol Myers Squibb may terminate it with 12 months’ notice and payment of a termination fee, according to the filing.
The neurology component calls for Tempus to deliver 500,000 de-identified records of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or other neurological conditions at a rate of 100,000 records per year. Pathos will pay $100 per delivered record plus $5 million for record updates, according to the filing.
The expanded collaboration builds on earlier work between the two companies. In May, Tempus and Bristol Myers Squibb announced an initiative applying AI and real-world data to optimize clinical trial designs across five initial programs in solid tumor oncology, including lung, colon and prostate cancers.
Tempus, which trades on Nasdaq under the ticker TEM, is headquartered at 600 W. Chicago Ave. The company describes itself as advancing precision medicine through artificial intelligence, maintaining one of the world’s largest libraries of clinical and molecular data.
Bristol Myers Squibb trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BMY.
Tempus said it plans to report third-quarter 2026 financial results on Nov. 2.
