Clinical-stage radiotherapeutics company Radiopharm Theranostics has announced an expanded two-year strategic research collaboration with GenesisCare to advance Phase I clinical trials of three novel radiopharmaceutical candidates targeting complex, hard-to-treat cancers across Australia.
Trial Portfolio Targets Multiple Cancer Types
The partnership will see GenesisCare's contract research organization (CRO) and imaging research organization (IRO) implement three Phase I trials focusing on safety and tolerability of Radiopharm's platform of radiopharmaceutical nanobodies. The specific candidates include:
- A proprietary nanobody from the Nano-mAbs platform targeting PDL-1 expression in non-small cell lung cancer
- A PTPu targeting peptide for brain tumors
- A PSA targeting antibody focused on free human prostate kallikrein (PSA) in prostate cancer cells
These radiopharmaceuticals are designed to deliver small doses of radiation to specifically targeted cells for either therapeutic or diagnostic purposes, referred to as theranostics when used in concert.
Growing Therapeutic Frontier in Oncology
According to Radiopharm Theranostics CEO Riccardo Canevari, interest in radiopharmaceutical therapies is increasing significantly. "Radiopharmaceuticals are quickly becoming a highly promising therapeutic frontier in oncology, offering new hope to patients who may have exhausted all other treatment options," Canevari stated.
To date, the majority of clinical developments in radiopharmaceuticals have targeted metastatic prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumours, making this expanded collaboration particularly significant for addressing areas of high unmet need in oncology.
Strategic Partnership Evolution
The current agreement represents an expansion of an existing relationship between the two Australian-founded health companies. Radiopharm Theranostics has worked with GenesisCare since March of the previous year, when they signed a letter of intent covering early phase trials of the PDL-1 targeting nano-mAb. In July, they extended the agreement to include trials of Radiopharm's PSA targeting antibody.
GenesisCare Chief Scientific Officer Danielle Meyrick emphasized the collaborative nature of the partnership: "We are delighted to be partnering with Radiopharm on its exciting pipeline of research in Australia. This R&D collaboration brings together two Australian-founded health companies who share an interest in investigating and developing new therapies."
Comprehensive Platform Technologies
Radiopharm maintains a pipeline of six distinct and highly-differentiated platform technologies spanning peptides, small molecules and monoclonal antibodies for use in cancer treatments. The technologies are in pre-clinical and clinical stages of development with some of the world's leading universities and institutes, with the pipeline based on the potential to be first-to-market or best-in-class.
Current clinical programs include one Phase II and three Phase I trials in a variety of solid tumour cancers including breast, kidney and brain. GenesisCare's extensive network of more than 440 locations across Australia, UK, the US, and Spain provides significant infrastructure support for these trials.
The expansion of this partnership comes less than a month after Radiopharm acquired Pharma15 Corp, a US-based developer of radiopharmaceuticals for the treatment of prostate cancer, further strengthening the company's position in the radiopharmaceutical space.
