From the June 2016 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Hence, 68Ga is also linked to the therapeutic beta emitter Lutetium-177 radionuclide, as this pair can form a kind of ideal partnership in the development of theranostics. All newly developed 177Lu-labeled radiotherapeutics are associated with the 68Ga-labeled analogue that will help not only to diagnose the patient, but to select the sub-population that should be positive responders to this 177Lu-treatment.
By the end of the year it is expected that the company Advanced Accelerator Applications in France will be able to launch the first 177Lu-labeled molecule, Lutathera, a drug for the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors, also known as 177Lu-DOTATATE. In the next few years, two other molecules, DOTATOC and JR- 11, respectively developed by ITG (Germany) and Ipsen (France) may also reach the market as drugs labeled with 177Lu for similar indications.
All these molecules will be associated with the 68Ga-labeled analogue. Within the next five years it is expected that very promising prostate cancer therapies based on antibodies (ATL-101 from ATLAB Pharma, France) or on the PSMA analogues may also reach the market, also labeled with 177Lu. Nuclear medicine remains a niche market representing less than 1 percent of the global pharmaceutical industry.
But in recent years the conventional pharmaceutical industry became gradually interested in nuclear medicine with some recent M&A activities: Bayer acquired Algeta; Sun Pharmaceutical took over Pharmalucence; Otsuka Pharmaceuticals entered into a global licensing and collaboration agreement with NuView Life Sciences; Norgine entered into a partnership with Navidea; and most recently, the pharmaceutical group Ipsen acquired OctreoPharm Sciences and then partnered with 3B Pharmaceuticals to develop novel radiotherapeutics.
About the authors: Paul-Emmanuel Goethals and Dr. Richard Zimmermann are co-founders of MEDraysintell, providing first-rate strategic intelligence in nuclear medicine, radiotherapy, proton therapy and brachytherapy. MEDraysintell offers the most comprehensive set of reports and directories, with over 1,800 pages of unrivaled intelligence covering some of the most exciting health care technologies using radiation for diagnosis and treatment.Back to HCB News
