After spending 20 years at Novartis, Radiopharm Theranostics Ltd. CEO Riccardo Canevari told BioWorld that when he joined Radiopharm he wanted to focus on something different within radiopharmaceuticals where no one was playing. “I believe these new modalities are at the beginning of their potential, much like in the immuno-oncology space years ago. That’s a nice place to be,” he said, but it’s not only about competition, it’s also about understanding what other companies are doing and if there is a disease area or a mechanism of action that is not being explored, he said.
Starpax Biopharma Inc. files for further protection of its anticancer technology that uses magnetically steered bacteria to spread chemotherapy drugs throughout the volume of tumors. Its latest filing describes a method for preparing a subject for a medical intervention with magnetotactic bacteria tethered to treatment, imaging or diagnostic agents.
In a move to build up its dominance in the radiopharma market, Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. said it plans to acquire radioisotope production technology firm Artms Inc. and its advanced cyclotron-based isotope production platform, manufacturing plant and stockpile of ultra-pure rare metals.
While members of the U.S. FDA’s Imaging Drugs Advisory Committee weren’t blown away March 5 by the trial performance of Lumicell Inc.’s Lumisight (pegulicianine) in helping breast cancer patients avoid second surgeries due to negative margins following a lumpectomy, they voted 16-2, with one abstention, that the benefits of the imaging drug outweigh its risks, even though those benefits are incremental.
The March 5 meeting of the U.S. FDA’s Medical Imaging Drugs Advisory Committee could be the gateway to the first approved intraoperative technology for use in breast cancer that directly examines the lumpectomy cavity for residual cancer.
Global interest in radiopharmaceuticals is soaring, and the global radiopharma market is expected to grow 10% over the next decade to $13.67 billion by 2032, according to a new report by Precedence Research.
Vessi Medical Ltd. recently closed a series A financing round at $16.5 million for the advancement of its cryotherapy technology to treat non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Vessi believes that its minimally invasive device can provide a therapeutic alternative to a transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) procedure, the current first line therapy to treat the disease.
If Freenome Holdings Inc.’s $254 million funding round is a sign, the capital markets for med-tech may finally be thawing. The cancer diagnostics company’s latest cash infusion brings its total funds raised to date to more than $1.3 billion. Freenome co-founder and Chief Product Officer Riley Ennis told BioWorld the company’s success in raising cash in a challenging market was attributable to the “perfect storm of huge unmet need and the opportunity that we have, given the treatment advancements.”
Biopsies from up to 14% of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) showing resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase therapy ascertain histologic transformation (HT) to SCLC, which is estimated to kill around 250,000 patients globally, every year. In a study published in Science on Feb. 9, 2024, researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine have dissected that complex process using a genetically engineered mouse model of pulmonary HT.
Cyted Ltd. received U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance for its Endosign capsule technology, a non-endoscopic capsule sponge device used to collect pan-esophageal samples to detect esophageal pre-cancer and other conditions. The company believes that the minimally invasive test will be able to help prevent deaths from esophageal cancer when offered as a screening test to people on long-term medication for heartburn.