The company’s executive vice president and chief medical officer Cristian Massacesi will lead the unified, end-to-end R&D organisation.
The planned structure will place the company’s scientific and clinical expertise within one group, spanning discovery and development.
BMS executive vice president and chief research officer Robert Plenge will remain at the company in an advisory role through March 2027 before departing.
Plenge’s continued involvement is intended to support the transition to the new organisational model.
BMS board chair and CEO Christopher Boerner said: “Bringing Research and Development together as one organisation is an important step in our work to position BMS for long-term growth.
“Under Cristian’s leadership, this new structure will more closely connect our scientific and clinical expertise across R&D, accelerate decision making and ultimately enhance portfolio execution. Increasingly, traditional boundaries between research and development are collapsing.
“This combined R&D organisation sets us up to attract and retain the best talent, build critical capabilities, and better integrate new technology. I want to sincerely thank Robert for his extraordinary and lasting contributions to Bristol Myers Squibb, and his support on evolving the organisation.”
As part of its core operations, BMS works to discover, develop, and deliver medicines intended to help patients address serious diseases.
Massacesi said: “This is an exciting time at BMS, with immense scientific potential and an important opportunity to deliver on the promise of our pipeline while building what comes next. I’m grateful to Robert for his partnership, all he has contributed and the organisation he has built.
“Our Research & Development teams are advancing exceptional science and uniting them as one team will enable us to translate our most promising discoveries into medicines for patients with greater speed and focus.”