Medical technology company Radiopharm Theranostics has entered into a binding agreement to acquire Pharma15 Corporation – a US-based company focused on therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals to treat prostate cancer.
Pharma15 is developing products that aim to overcome resistance to prostate-specific membrane antigen, or “PSMA” targeting cancer therapies currently available or in late-stage development.
The technologies demonstrate highly specific targeting of receptors on cancer cells but not healthy tissues. The company believes the selective process may further limit toxicity in new approaches to targeted radiotherapy in prostate cancer.
The company will complete the purchase through its wholly owned subsidiary Radiopharm Therapeutics USA and the deal comprises of both the issue of ordinary shares and cash up-front, with some consideration deferred and some subject to the achievement of significant clinical milestones.
According to the agreement, the purchase price is US$4 million which is to be paid in 50 per cent cash and 50 per cent in shares split between two equal instalments. A total of 10.4 million Radiopharm ordinary shares will be issued in the first instalment as part of the purchase price with the second instalment to be based on the exchange rate at the time of the first anniversary of the agreement.
Radiopharm Theranostics Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Riccardo Canevari said: “With this agreement, we are looking at the potential next generation of radiopharmaceuticals in prostate cancer to go beyond PSMA and to continue innovation for patients suffering from this disease.”
Together with Pharma15’s scientific co-founder Professor David Ulmert, Professor Ken Herrmann will join Radiopharm’s scientific advisory board and spearhead the development of the acquired technologies.
Radiopharm says Dr Herrmann is a certified nuclear medicine physician who also holds an executive MBA from the University of Zürich and currently serves as Chair of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Universitätsmedizin Essen, Germany.
Dr Herrmann and Dr Ulmert join Dr Susann Brady-Kalnay, Dr Sara Hurvitz, Professor Eric Aboagye, Dr Johannes Notni and Dr Hong Hoi Ting on the board, chaired by Radiopharm’s Chief Medical Officer Professor David Mozley.
Melbourne-based Radiopharm listed on the ASX in November 2021 following a $50 million IPO to enable it to focus on developing radiopharmaceutical products to both diagnose or image tumours and destroy them.
It is estimated about 10 million people die annually from cancer, the most common of which are lung, breast, bowel and prostate and attempting to ease this devastating human toll has become big business. Globally, Radiopharm’s products are seeking entry into the US$284 billion worldwide oncology market which Precedence Research expects to grow to grow to US$581 billion by 2030.
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By Matt Birney
