Using radiation to kill tumors is a longstanding cancer treatment, but this approach can still kill healthy cells. Aktis Oncology aims to improve on the efficacy of radiotherapy while also limiting its toxicity. The startup is now coming out of stealth with $72 million, some of which comes from pharmaceutical giants Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
Radiotherapy kills cancer cells by employing a radiation particle to damage their DNA. Alpha particles pack the most punch when it comes to destroying cancer cells, but they don’t penetrate tissue well. Beta particles are smaller than alpha particles, making them good for penetrating tissue. But they are less powerful than alpha-emitting therapies.
Aktis is developing alpha-emitting therapies that penetrate into tumors but also clear away from other areas of the body quickly. The goal is to maximize tumor elimination while minimizing side effects.
“By harnessing the power of alpha particles—with nearly 1,000 times the potency of beta particles —we believe our approach has the potential to deliver game-changing results for patients,” Aktis CEO Matthew Roden said in a prepared statement.
Aktis was founded by Brian Goodman, Patrick Baeuerle, and Todd Foley, of MPM Capital. That venture capital firm also incubated the startup, which is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has labs in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Roden is an executive partner of MPM, and he also brings experience from Bristol Myers, where he was the pharmaceutical company’s senior vice president and head of enterprise strategy.
Aktis says its approach to cancer would enable clinicians to visualize and verify a cancer target before exposing a patient to radiotherapy, allowing for better selection of the patients who are most likely to benefit from this type of treatment. The company plans to develop therapies for “a broad range of solid tumor cancers” but it has not specified which cancers it aims to treat, nor has it outlined any details about its drug pipeline.
The Series A financing announced Thursday was co-led by MPM Capital, EcoR1 Capital, and Vida Ventures. The participation of Novartis and Bristol Myers was joined by Octagon Capital and TCG Crossover.
Novartis’s Aktis investment is the latest in a string of radiotherapy moves in recent years. In 2017, the Swiss pharma giant paid $3.9 billion to acquire Advanced Accelerator Applications, the France-based developer of a radiotherapy called Lutathera, which has regulatory approvals for treating neuroendocrine tumors. The following year, Novartis paid $2.1 billion to acquire Endocyte, a developer of targeted cancer radiation treatments.
Aktis isn’t the only biotech vying to develop more targeted alpha-emitting radiotherapies for solid tumors. Last October, San Diego-based RayzeBio launched with a $45 million Series A round of funding to back its development of a radiotherapy based on actinium-225. RayzeBio says this isotope of actinium is potent but limits its release of radiation to a few cell diameters, which minimizes damage to surrounding healthy tissue.
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