The New Radiopharma Competition Requires Unprecedented Medical Logistics
As the innovative, multi-billion dollar industry expands rapidly, pharma companies must consider how to deliver and differentiate.
As the innovative, multi-billion dollar industry expands rapidly, pharma companies must consider how to deliver and differentiate.
AstraZeneca’s Fusion Pharmaceuticals acquisition is the latest in a wave of M&A activity that includes recent deals by Eli Lilly and Bristol Myers Squibb. The lead Fusion program is in mid-stage clinical development for treating advanced prostate cancer.
With increased access to cutting-edge imaging, improved treatment options, greater personalization of treatment, reduced radiation exposure, and potential for future advances, patients can expect to receive more advanced medical care tailored to their specific needs through radiopharmaceuticals.
Acquiring Point Biopharma gives Eli Lilly a pipeline of radiopharmaceuticals, including one for prostate cancer that could rival Novartis’s Pluvicto. The deal comes ahead of an expected Phase 3 data readout for that Point therapeutic candidate.
RayzeBio’s IPO will support pivotal testing of a targeted radiopharmaceutical for cancer patients who progress after treatment with Novartis’s Lutathera. Neumora will apply its IPO cash toward Phase 3 testing of a depression drug with a novel mechanism of action.
Abdera Therapeutics emerged from stealth with technology that improves the way antibodies deliver radiopharmaceuticals for cancer. A lead program with preclinical proof-of-concept data in small cell lung cancer is on track to reach the clinic in 2024.
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Novartis is partnering with Bicycle Therapeutics to see if the biotech’s technology can be used to develop better, more targeted radiopharmaceuticals. The deal covers two targets that were not disclosed.
Radiopharmaceuticals deploy radiation to damage cancer DNA, but Curie Therapeutics sees these therapies opening the door to a wider range of ways to kill tumors. The startup has raised $75 million in Series A financing to advance its research.
Radiopharmaceuticals are highly specialized and require equipment, facilities, personnel, licensing and training that is significantly different from traditional pharmaceutical manufacturing.