MELBOURNE, Australia and LIEGE, Belgium, Jan. 24, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Advanced Nuclear Medicine Ingredients SA (“ANMI”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX:TLX, “Telix”) today announced that it has completed the in-licensing of 99mtechnetium-EDDA/HYNIC-Lys(NaI)-Urea-Glu (99mTc-iPSMA), a novel clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical for the imaging of prostate cancer, from the Mexican Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares (“ININ”).

Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography or “SPECT” is a nuclear medicine imaging procedure widely used especially in the management of cancer and is an alternative to the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) approach already under development by ANMI/Telix (the illumetTM / 68Ga-PSMA kit). SPECT is similar to PET in its use of radioactive tracer material and detection of gamma rays (and it is often generically referred to as “gamma imaging”). However, in much of the world PET/CT technology is not yet widely available, and therefore SPECT remains the dominant nuclear imaging modality for cancer management.

The ININ team and collaborators have clinically evaluated 99mTc-iPSMA with SPECT/CT and the acquired results demonstrate highly sensitive detection of prostate cancer lesions.1,[2]. The clinical and commercial potential of 99mTc-iPSMA to evaluate both primary disease and metastases in regions that do not have extensive PET infrastructure (at this time), is significant. The images obtained with 9mTc-iPSMA are qualitatively and semi-quantitatively similar to 68Ga-PSMA-11 with PET/CT. 99mTc-iPSMA has robust international patent protection in relevant commercial markets.
Telix Group CEO Dr. Christian Behrenbruch stated, “In the US and EU where PET infrastructure is well-developed, PET-based nuclear medicine dominates due to superior image quality, the quantitative nature of PET and higher reimbursement for PET-based procedures compared to traditional SPECT-based nuclear medicine procedures. However, we believe that the availability of PSMA imaging is fundamental to enabling patient access to 177Lu-PSMA therapy on a global basis and therefore a kit-based approach based on 99mTc-iPSMA is a powerful addition to the product portfolio and complements our existing development of the 68Ga-PSMA illumetTM kit.”

ANMI Co-Founder and CSO Dr. Sam Voccia noted, “Delivering SPECT PSMA to patients in countries where PET is not accessible or has limited availability will contribute to better management of prostate cancer globally. This is particularly the case for key Asian and Latin American growth markets where there is major demand for prostate imaging and where a product like this can ensure that we ‘leave no patient behind’ in terms of access to prostate imaging technology.”

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