Oncology
Stronger together for cancer patients
Cancer is caused by the uncontrolled division of body cells. The cells simply keep dividing and start growing in the surrounding tissue and sometimes spread to other areas of the body. Cancer can occur almost anywhere in the body. There are more than 100 different kinds of cancer, which all share the same characteristic of uncontrolled cell division. The rate at which the uncontrolled cell division occurs is different for each type of cancer. As a result, some types of cancer are more likely to cause symptoms than others.
In 2024, around 134,800 people were diagnosed with cancer. The main types of cancer for women are breast, skin and lung cancer, and for men, it is prostate, skin and lung cancer. The survival rate of cancer patients has dramatically improved in recent years. Some patients recover fully, while others live longer with cancer with few symptoms. The five-year cancer survival rate has increased to 68%. Today, almost 1 million people in the Netherlands have been diagnosed with cancer in the last 20 years.
For over fifty years, Bristol Myers Squibb has been committed to discovering, developing, and delivering innovative medicines for cancer treatments. Our goal is to improve patient care and give cancer patients longer, better lives.
To achieve this, we seek cooperation with scientists, doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals, as well as with governments, healthcare insurers, and patient organisations.
We continuously seek dialogue and continue to exchange current insights and experiences in relation to cancer. This is fertile ground for all types of innovative and inspiring ideas, both to innovate care and optimize the quality of patients’ lives and survival.
We stimulate and facilitate our employees to continue exploring, refining, and realising their most valuable ideas, together with all the partners who are just as driven to beat cancer.
In oncology, we focus on three pillars
What is immunotherapy?
Our body has an immune system. This immune system enables the body to defend itself against intruders that can make us ill, such as bacteria, viruses, toxins, and parasites. The immune system also plays a role in protecting against cancer.
Immunotherapy is a treatment option that does not directly target cancer cells but the immune system. Immunotherapy boosts or activates the immune system to better attack cancer cells.
This is very different from chemotherapy, which directly impacts cancer cells.
For more information about immunotherapy:
Our CAR-T production facility in Leiden
Bristol Myers Squibb established its first European state-of-the-art CAR-T manufacturing facility in Leiden, the Netherlands. This facility will allow us to bring personalized cell therapies closer to European patients, ensuring faster access and greater availability of these transformative treatments.
By investing in local infrastructure, we are not only supporting patients across Europe, but also helping drive groundbreaking medical innovation.
While preparations for the start of production are underway, this photo shows what the site looked like in December 2024.
Our medicines in oncology
Our mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines to patients with serious diseases.