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Eli Lilly, the world’s biggest pharmaceutical group by market value, is entering the business of nuclear isotope production, as cancer drugmakers seek to secure supply of radioactive materials crucial to the emerging field of radiopharmaceutical oncology drugs.
The Indianapolis-based drugmaker has invested $10mn through a convertible loan into isotope supplier Ionetix, which operates a manufacturing facility capable of producing actinium-225, an isotope critical to many radiopharma drugs that is in very low supply. Other existing investors are also backing the company with $10mn of financing.
Radiopharmaceuticals, otherwise known as radioligands, are one of the most promising new areas of cancer treatments, where through combining a radioactive isotope with an antibody cocktail, drug developers can deliver a more toxic dose direct to cancer cells, shrinking tumours more efficiently.
Eli Lilly last year bought Point Biopharma, a biotech specialising in radiopharma drugs to treat prostate cancer, for $1.4bn — one of a series of acquisitions in which a major pharma group bought an early-stage drugmaker harnessing actinium-225 to attack cancer cells.
Between them, Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca spent $8bn on biotechs with lead drugs being studied in clinical trials using actinium-225. Pharma groups Bayer and Novartis already have approved radiopharma drugs using different isotopes.
But growth in the radiopharmaceuticals field, which is expected to generate up to $39bn in sales by 2032, according to Morgan Stanley analysts, has been hampered by a lack of isotope supply. RayzeBio, which was bought by Bristol Myers for $4.1bn, was forced to pause recruitment for the international arm of one of its radiopharma drugs for several months this year because of a lack of actinium-225.
As actinium-225 does not occur naturally, there are just two curies — a measurement of nuclear energy — of the isotope produced each year, enough to treat about 2,000 patients at most, according to industry estimates seen by the Financial Times.
The small bet by Eli Lilly on Ionetix is a rare example of Big Pharma investing further up the supply chain to secure actinium supply. Ionetix’s manufacturing facility in Lansing, Michigan, operates a machine called a cyclotron, which produces actinium-225 by blasting radium-226 with a proton beam.
Ionetix, which is installing another cyclotron on the site, estimates that by the end of next year it will be able to manufacture about one curie of actinium a week, which will provide roughly 26,000 patient doses a year, according to company estimates. Other medical isotope suppliers, including Bill Gates-backed TerraPower, and US government-backed NorthStar, are also building up supply.
Eli Lilly told the Financial Times as it develops radiopharma drugs “we see value in supporting companies such as Ionetix, which are important to Lilly from a strategic perspective in terms of being part of the actinium supply chain”.
Ionetix proved in tests earlier this year that it was capable of producing actinium-225 to adequate quality and that it was able to completely recycle the radium-226 precursor, which was procured from a US government stockpile. Ionetix also has a diagnostic imaging business.
Point Biopharma, which was acquired by Eli Lilly, had already issued a $10mn convertible loan to Ionetix, so in total Eli Lilly will have a $20mn debt facility with the company that it can convert into equity.
Ionetix is working on a funding round, which will value the business at upwards of $300mn — at which point Eli Lilly is expected to convert its loan to equity.
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