Should Bristol-Myers panic over Incyte’s skin cancer failure?

The failed skin cancer trial that crushed Incyte and Merck on Friday could be cause for alarm over at Bristol-Myers Squibb, which is running a nearly identical study with two drugs of its own that work the same way.

Like Incyte (INCY) and Merck (MRK), Bristol-Myers (BMY) is testing a two-drug combination that pairs a blockbuster immunotherapy with an unapproved pill that might make the older drug more effective. For Bristol-Myers, that pill is called BMS-986205, and it works by targeting an enzyme called IDO, which plays a role in helping tumors evade the immune system’s detection.

But now that the world knows Incyte’s IDO drug made no difference for advanced skin cancer patients, why should things play out any differently for the one made by Bristol-Myers?

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