Radiopharma company and radioisotope supplier ITM, or Isotopen Technologien München, raised €188 million ($204 million) to boost in-house manufacturing of lutetium-177 as well as to push its Phase 3 gastrointestinal cancer radiotherapy to commercialization.
“There is a skyrocketing demand for medical radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals, given their value in treating cancer. This is why we are focused on developing a targeted radiopharmaceutical pipeline as well as strengthening our manufacturing and supply of medical radioisotopes,” CEO Steffen Schuster said.
Risk of radioisotope shortages hit the headlines this week, with Endpoints News reporting Sunday that Bristol Myers Squibb had paused a Phase 3 trial due to shortage of the radioisotope actinium-225.
ITM’s new funding will boost its Lu-177 manufacturing and help the company expand its capabilities for Ac-225, according to a Thursday morning release. ITM manufactures isotopes for its own needs and for other companies.
The radiopharma company is focused on scaling up to meet “skyrocketing demand,” Schuster told Endpoints in an email. ITM’s new site for Lu-177 production, dubbed the NOVA facility, became operationally ready in January, making this its second manufacturing site. The new facility is a 14-minute drive north of ITM’s first site in Garching near Munich, Germany.
According to Schuster, the second site would be the world’s largest Lu-177 manufacturing facility once fully open. It would increase its production capacity “tenfold,” he added.
Using the raise, ITM will also expand its clinical pipeline and help bring its lead asset, named ITM-11, all the way to market. ITM-11 is in two Phase 3 trials, COMPETE and COMPOSE, for gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.
The raise was led by Singapore investment firm Temasek with participation from ATHOS, BlackRock, Carbyne and Qatar Investment Authority.
ITM has two commercially available radiopharma products. The first is EndolucinBeta, which uses Lu-177 as a radiolabeling agent. The second is a Gallium-based diagnostic product for neuroendocrine tumors. The radiopharma company has other radiotherapies and diagnostic tool candidates under investigation.