Tempus expands BMS data and AI research access, with Pathos adding neurology work

Tempus AI announced an expanded collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb on October 23, giving the drugmaker access to licensed multimodal oncology data through 2031 and to its Lens AI research platform. BMS researchers will use a dedicated environment connected to GPU infrastructure to train and run models on de-identified data. The work is intended to support biological insight, target discovery and development across BMS’s oncology portfolio.

Lens combines several kinds of evidence used in drug research. Tempus’s product materials describe DNA and RNA information, digital pathology, radiology images and longitudinal clinical outcomes, with agents helping researchers assemble cohorts and investigate biological hypotheses. Bringing those data types and computing resources into one environment is central to the offering. The October announcement expands BMS’s research access within an existing relationship that already includes AI-supported clinical-trial design.

The related 8-K dates the oncology statement of work to October 14, under the companies’ existing services agreement. Its term ends December 31, 2031. BMS’s permitted use includes applying the licensed data within Pathos’s Foundry platform, which BMS has separately licensed. The public announcement therefore follows the signing of the oncology agreement.

A parallel collaboration announced by Pathos on October 23 focuses on Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological conditions. Tempus will build a curated, de-identified longitudinal dataset, while Pathos plans to apply Foundry to examine disease biology and generate and test hypotheses. BMS contributes neuroscience drug-development expertise. The partners describe research into disease progression and more targeted trial design, with the dataset intended to follow patient outcomes over time.

Tempus and Pathos signed the neurology order on October 22. Tempus will use commercially reasonable efforts to deliver 500,000 records over five years, targeting 100,000 annually, alongside a licensed analysis agent. Fees are capped at $55 million: $50 million for data at $100 per delivered record, invoiced monthly, and $5 million for record-update availability, invoiced quarterly. The filing says the amount earned depends on records delivered during the term. It describes future contract payments, rather than money already received.

An October 22 side letter permits Pathos to sublicense the neurology data and Tempus Agent to BMS. The filing also discloses overlapping executive leadership and equity ownership between Tempus and Pathos. A special committee of disinterested Tempus directors reviewed and approved the neurology order and side letter under the company’s related-person transaction policy. Those arrangements define the partners’ licensed access to the records and software.

Lens itself predates the new agreement. Tempus announced its next-generation platform in May, describing a workflow in which researchers propose a hypothesis in ordinary language, refine an analysis plan with an agent and then execute the finalized analysis in code. Results can be shared through applications and reports, while users can inspect the analytical code or export a project to a private workspace for further work.

Current Lens materials describe scientists evaluating the resulting evidence, with consequential decisions remaining under human oversight. Outputs carry a record of the data queried, models used, parameters and sources. The platform also describes access permissions scoped by role and research program, alongside encryption and restrictions on training AI with sponsor data without permission. These controls accompany the model-development environment and the research workflows in which licensed records are analyzed.