News & Trends - Pharmaceuticals
Radiopharmaceutical spinoff to expand access to cancer treatment
Pharma News: Radiopharmaceuticals are precision nuclear medicines used for medical imaging and treatment. GlobalData reports that venture capital deals in radiopharmaceutical have grown 550% to $408 million last year. This compares to $63 million in 2017.
Australia’s Telix has announced the spin-off of Rhine Pharma, a new entity with a mission to expand global access to innovative radiopharmaceuticals for cancer imaging and treatment. Rhine Pharma will focus on leveraging two generator-produced isotopes, technetium-99m (99mTc) and rhenium-188 (188Re), to advance cancer care.
Rhine Pharma emerged from a collaboration between Telix and Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD), aimed at developing a PSMA-targeting small molecule that can be labelled with either 99mTc for SPECT imaging or 188Re for radioligand therapy.
This collaboration resulted in the development of RHN001, a next-generation theranostic compound, which Rhine Pharma is now advancing into a Phase I/IIa clinical trial known as the ‘RHINO Trial.’ The trial will explore the safety and efficacy of both 99mTc-RHN001 and 188Re-RHN001 in patients with advanced prostate cancer.
A key advantage of 99mTc and 188Re is their on-site production via generators, providing a crucial solution for regions with limited radiopharmaceutical infrastructure or geographically dispersed populations. 99mTc enables widespread imaging through SPECT scanners, while 188Re, with its high-energy beta emissions, shows strong potential as a therapeutic isotope, maximising tumour cell damage. Additionally, its short half-life of 16.9 hours offers a streamlined approach to patient care in busy treatment centres, reducing nuclear waste management challenges.
Unlike radiopharmaceuticals based on isotopes like lutetium-177 (177Lu) and actinium-225 (225Ac), which require complex and costly centralised production facilities, 99mTc and 188Re generators provide a more accessible and cost-effective solution for producing radionuclides on-site.
Richard Valeix, Chief Executive Officer, Therapeutics, Telix, highlighted the importance of this innovation, stating, “Rhine Pharma is an example of identifying an access-to-medicine challenge and then working to fix it. While radiopharmaceuticals can be a powerful way to image and treat cancer, manufacturing doses and getting them to patients can be complex and costly, particularly in emerging markets or geographically dispersed populations.
“Using generators for production could reduce costs and simplify the supply chain. This means the combination of 188Re and 99mTc has potential for addressing unmet needs in cancer treatment for more people, in more countries.”
Christian Behrenbruch, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of Telix, underscored the company’s values and commitment to innovation.
“This is an exciting story of collaborative innovation aligned with our values, particularly our commitment to increasing access to medicine. It also demonstrates Telix’s ability to drive in-house innovation that can move seamlessly from the laboratory to the clinic and evolve commercially. Spinning off Rhine Pharma makes room in our pipeline for future opportunities and gives Rhine Pharma the focus it needs to succeed,” he said.
Rhine Pharma is supported by Founding Scientific Advisors – Professors Frederik Giesel, Ken Herrmann, Clemens Kratochwil, and Dr Jens Cardinale. It is also working closely with the Nuclear Medicine Research Infrastructure (NuMeRI) at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. NuMeRI, which opened in May 2024, is dedicated to advancing nuclear medicine research in the region and is playing a key role in the RHINO Trial. The trial has received ethics and regulatory approval in South Africa and is being overseen by NuMeRI’s CEO, Professor Mike Sathekge, and his team.
Professor Sathekge expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration, saying, “NuMeRI is working to bring the benefits of precision medicine and radiopharmaceutical therapy to more people, regardless of their location or income. It’s only through innovation and collaboration that we can marshal the resources needed to achieve this goal, and partnering with Rhine Pharma on this clinical trial is an exciting opportunity to advance research in this area. We look forward to seeing how RHN001 performs in the clinic.”
In reimagining healthcare, Health Industry HubTM is the ONLY one-stop-hub uniting the diversity of Pharma, MedTech, Diagnostics & Biotech sectors to inspire meaningful change. The exclusive leadership and influencer podcasts and vodcasts offer unparalleled insights and add immense value to our breaking news coverage.
The Health Industry HubTM content is copyright protected. Access is available under individual user licenses. Please click here to subscribe and visit T&Cs here.
News & Trends - MedTech & Diagnostics
Government faces scrutiny for inaction in private hospital sector despite Health Check warnings
Shadow Health Minister Senator Anne Ruston questioned the Department of Health’s commitment to addressing critical issues in the private hospital […]
MoreNews & Trends - MedTech & Diagnostics
Australia lags behind in funding pharmacogenomic testing: Pathologists urge action
Diagnostics & MedTech News: The call for urgent action to improve access to pharmacogenomic testing across Australia comes as demand […]
MoreNews & Trends - Pharmaceuticals
Australia’s first Cholesterol Awareness Week launched to tackle nation’s ‘silent disease’
Pharma News: Leading heart charities have come together to launch the nation’s first Cholesterol Awareness Week (11-17 November), aiming to […]
More