On March 2, 2020 ITM Isotopen Technologien München AG (ITM), a biotechnology and radiopharmaceutical group of companies reported, that it has expanded a long-term agreement for the supply of highly pure no-carrier-added (n.c.a.) Lutetium-177 (177Lu), which was originally concluded in 2018 between ITM AG and Endocyte, Inc., a Novartis company (Press release, ITM Isotopen Technologien Munchen, MAR 2, 2020, View Source [SID1234555073]). Under the agreement, ITM will provide Endocyte with supply of n.c.a 177Lu for its investigational 177Lu-PSMA-617 radioligand therapy for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Pending approval of investigational drug candidate 177Lu-PSMA-617, ITM would continue to provide its proprietary n.c.a. 177Lu during the commercial phase, supporting the scalability and security-of-supply for patients world-wide.
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In addition, the parties have agreed that n.c.a. 177Lu supplied by ITM will be used in future pipeline investigations.
Sidonie Golombowski-Daffner, President of Advanced Accelerator Applications, the radioligand business of Novartis, stated: "We believe in the potential of targeted radioligand therapy to transform the lives of patients and aspire to make it broadly available to those in need. This supply agreement supports our future growth and ability to investigate radioligand therapies in a variety of cancers."
Steffen Schuster, CEO of ITM, commented: "We are very pleased to expand this long-term alliance, which allows us to further expand and support the development and increasing global patient access to targeted radioligand therapies. We are proud to contribute to these treatments by providing our highly pure n.c.a. 177Lu. By 2030, therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals are expected to account for 50% of the nuclear medicine market. Thanks to the extension of the Endocyte supply agreement, we are confident that we can make a significant impact to this growing demand."