ITM CEO Steffen Schuster says that both agreements will aid in the growth of large-scale radiopharmaceutical development, which is limited by the short half-lives of radioligands, making them less accessible than other cancer treatments. He adds that unlicensed radiopharmaceuticals such as n.c.a. Lutetium-177 have been highly efficient in treating patients with progressive cancers on compassionate use basis for several years, with few side effects.

“Successful treatments were sometimes reported as case-studies or retrospective studies, but systematic prospective data from Phase I-III clinical trials were rarely generated. This situation has changed in recent years due to treatment success of targeted radionuclide therapy,” he told HCB News. “New targets in cancer cells such as gastrin-releasing peptide receptors, integrins, PSMA and melanocyte-stimulating hormone receptors may provide additional opportunities for a broader range of cancer types to be treated with medical radionuclides.”


No financial details in the ITM-Bruce Power agreement were disclosed. Additional terms of the ITM-Endocyte agreement were also not specified.

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