Recently, Novartis announced that it will invest in establishing a new radiopharmaceutical production site in China, in order to accelerate the introduction of innovative radioligand therapy to China. After its completion, the production site will become Novartis' second innovative drug production base in China.
Similarly, in early October 2023, Eli Lilly announced its acquisition of Point Biopharma Global, a US clinical-stage targeted radiotherapy (isotope-linked pharmaceuticals) company, for $1.4 billion at a 68% premium. This acquisition marks Eli Lilly's formal entry into the competitive field of targeted radiotherapy in the metabolism sector, in which it has previously enjoyed great success.
According to VB Data, the global total financing amount for nuclear medicine enterprises in the first half of this year was RMB 3.047 billion. In the third quarter of this year, the financing performance of nuclear medicine companies in the primary market continued to be impressive, with a total financing amount of RMB 4.448 billion.
It can be seen that despite the capital winter, nuclear medicine does not seem to be affected. In the sluggish market environment of innovative drugs, the nuclear medicine field is still thriving.
Overview of the Nuclear Medicine Track
Nuclear medicine, also known as radiopharmaceuticals, are categorized by the clinical application of nuclear medicine into diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine. Diagnostic nuclear medicine is a group of in vivo radiopharmaceuticals used to obtain images or functional parameters of target organs or lesion tissues for diagnosis. Therapeutic nuclear medicine involves selectively delivering radioactive isotopes with cytotoxic levels to the lesion site, using the ionizing radiation biological effects produced by the radiation of gamma or beta particles to kill diseased tissues or cells.
Since the first nuclear medicine, iodine [131I] sodium, was approved by the FDA for diagnosis and treatment of thyroid diseases in 1951, more than 100 radiopharmaceuticals have been marketed worldwide. Among them, diagnostic nuclear medicine accounts for the dominant position, while therapeutic nuclear medicine has grown strongly, mainly due to research and development in RDC (isotope-linked pharmaceuticals or targeted radiation therapy).
Similar to ADC (antibody-drug conjugates), RDC typically consists of four parts: targeting molecules, linkers, chelating agents, and radioactive isotopes. By linking different isotopes, diagnostic or therapeutic purposes are achieved. For example, fluorine [18F], gallium [68Ga] are linked to form diagnostic products, while alpha or beta particles (lutetium [177Lu], actinium [225Ac], iodine [I-131], radium [Ra-223], etc.) are linked to form therapeutic products.
Today, with the development of radioactive chemistry, nuclear medicine, molecular biology technology and multidisciplinary integration, nuclear medicine has become a hot field in global drug development, and the RDC track has attracted pharmaceutical companies both at home and abroad to layout their research and development.
MNCs Splurge Layout
Novartis
In October 2017, Novartis acquired the French innovative drug listing company Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) for $3.9 billion. AAA is a company focused on the research and production of radiopharmaceuticals. Through the acquisition of AAA, Novartis gained access to the radioligand therapy Lutathera and related technological platforms. In 2018, Novartis acquired Endocyte for $2.1 billion, further obtaining more radioligand therapies such as 177Lu-PSMA-617 and 255Ac-PSMA-617 for the treatment of prostate cancer.
These two acquisitions further solidified Novartis' leading position in the field of nuclear medicine. Currently, Novartis has two FDA-approved RDC products on the market, Lutathera and Pluvicto, as well as products under development such as 177Lu-FAP-2286, 177Lu-NeoBOMB1, and 225Ac-PSMA-617.
Lutathera (177Lu-DOTATATE) is a radioactive-labeled somatostatin analog that delivers the radioactive isotope Lu-1...
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