BOSTON, March 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ratio Therapeutics Inc. (Ratio), a pharmaceutical company that employs a suite of innovative technologies to develop best-in-class radiopharmaceuticals for the monitoring and treatment of cancers, today announced the licensing of a Granzyme B-targeted agent for PET imaging applications from Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada.

Under the terms of the agreement, Merck will provide Ratio with several candidates and supporting preclinical and CMC data of its Granzyme B-targeted agent for PET imaging applications. Ratio will also be responsible for clinical development and will build a GMP production network for the PET imaging agent across North America, Western Europe, Japan, Australia, and beyond.

"We are thrilled to contribute our knowledge in nuclear medicine to advance the development of a novel imaging diagnostic in immunology and work alongside Merck, a global biopharmaceutical leader that has demonstrated a strong commitment to innovation and excellence for more than a century," said Dr. Jack Hoppin, Ratio's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "The development of a Granzyme B-targeted agent for PET imaging has the potential to monitor responses to therapeutic interventions in clinical research."
Granzyme B is an enzyme released by activated immune cells, such as natural killer and cytotoxic T cells, with the primary function of killing tumor cells and normal cells infected with viruses. As such, Granzyme B holds potential to serve as a PET imaging biomarker to monitor immune cell activation in a variety of inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases, cancer and infection. The ability to visualize and quantify localized immune response empowers physicians to measure the early efficacy of therapies and modify treatment accordingly.


About Ratio Therapeutics
Ratio Therapeutics Inc. is a Boston-based pharmaceutical company with the mission to accelerate the development of next-generation precision radiopharmaceuticals for solid tumors and transform oncology treatment paradigms. Founded by John Babich, Ph.D., and Jack Hoppin, Ph.D., the company currently employs a growing team of radiopharmaceuticals discovery and development experts with backgrounds in the life science industry. Ratio's fully integrated proprietary R&D platforms, Trillium™ and Macropa™, enable the imaging, discovery and advancement of novel radiopharmaceuticals that have first/best-in-class delivery, safety and efficacy properties. The tunable nature of the company's platforms enables the efficient and timely generation of numerous novel radiopharmaceuticals for a broad range of high unmet need in solid tumors. Built to be the radiopharmaceuticals discovery and development partner of choice, Ratio currently collaborates with Bayer, Lantheus and Merck.

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