Singapore state-owned investor Temasek has led EUR 188 million ($208 million) equity investment in German radiopharmaceutical biotech firm ITM Isotope Technologies Munich SE (ITM).
ITM said in a statement on Thursday that the equity round also saw participation from funds managed by BlackRock1, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), ATHOS and Carbyne.
The new capital will be used to advance and expand ITM’s innovative radiopharmaceutical pipeline, foster its leading development platform and prepare commercial readiness for the potential market launch of the company’s phase III lead candidate, ITM-11 (n.c.a. 177Lu-edotreotide) for the treatment of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs).
Further solidifying its current position in radioisotope supply, ITM will also apply the new funds together with its expertise as the globally leading manufacturer of n.c.a. Lutetium-177 (177Lu) to increase its in-house manufacturing capacities for 177Lu and expand them to new, high-value medical radioisotopes including Actinium-225 (225Ac).
The company will provide these sought-after medical radioisotopes to its global supply network and apply them to broaden its own Radiopharmaceutical Therapy (RPT) pipeline designed to address an array of hard-to-treat cancer indications.
“ITM is an industry-leading expert in the manufacturing and supply of high-quality medical radioisotopes with a groundbreaking pipeline on the cusp of an exciting data inflection point,” said Udo J. Vetter, Chairman of the Supervisory Board at ITM and Chairman of the Advisory Board of Vetter Pharma.
“This financing furthers our position as a driver and partner for the radiopharmaceutical industry by supporting commercial readiness efforts for ITM-11 and the expansion of our pipeline with new medical isotopes capable of addressing various cancer indications, all while increasing our robust manufacturing capacities,” he added.
Steffen Schuster, Chief Executive Officer of ITM, said that the additional equity and continued collaboration with their existing, industry-specialized investors emphasizes their confidence in the firm’s ability to drive value for the radiopharmaceutical field through its unmatched manufacturing capabilities and innovative precision oncology pipeline.
“We have reached key milestones since our last financing round including advancing our pipeline with novel targets in multiple oncology indications, opening our NOVA facility, launching Actineer with CNL for the joint production of Actinium-225 and entering several high-value supply agreements for Lutetium-177,
“As we continue growing as an organization, our focus remains on bringing the significant therapeutic benefits of Radiopharmaceutical Therapy to as many patients worldwide as possible and we are thankful for the additional financing which will support us on this path,” he added.
ITM is a firm dedicated to providing a new generation of radiomolecular precision therapeutics and diagnostics for hard-to-treat tumors.
The firm is built on longstanding experience in the production and supply of high-quality medical radioisotopes for the precise diagnosis and treatment of cancer with an established global supply network.
As a fully vertically integrated radiopharmaceutical company, ITM is applying its in-house expertise to develop a broad pipeline of targeted radiopharmaceuticals designed to provide medical benefit for patients living with a range of hard-to-treat cancer indications.
ITM-11 (n.c.a.177Lu-edotreotide), the company’s lead candidate, is being evaluated for the treatment of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) in two phase III clinical trials, COMPETE for grade 1 and grade 2 GEP-NETs and COMPOSE for grade 2 and grade 3 GEP-NETs.