Data from breast cancer imaging tech boosts Radiopharm

ASX-listed biotech Radiopharm Theranostics has been buoyed by positive data generated by one of the company’s products in diagnosing an aggressive and deadly type of breast cancer, with company management describing the results as “outstanding”.

The data was published in the latest issue of a prestigious medical journal, the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging and relates to the company’s RAD201 product – one of 18 in Radiopharm’s development pipeline.

An article in the journal reported on the imaging use of RAD201 on six patients – a man and five women, aged between 42 and 69 – suffering HER2 breast cancer.

The paper states the patients were treated with RAD201 and then given five scans over 24 hours. No signs or symptoms of drug-related adverse effects were reported during or after the imaging procedure.

The conclusion by the authors is that “RAD201 appears safe for use in humans and is a promising non-invasive tool for discriminating HER2 status” in breast cancer.

Radiopharm Theranostics CEO and Managing Director, Riccardo Canevari said: “This is an outstanding endorsement of our RAD201 technology that gives us added confidence to develop this asset even further.

“HER2 positive breast cancer is around 15-20% of all breast cancer cases, is particularly aggressive and hence has a higher mortality rate. Any new imaging or therapeutic solutions that can make a difference for this disease are highly sought after.”

Radiation treatment is traditionally delivered to cancer cells via broad beams from outside the body.

Radiopharmaceuticals is a more targeted method of treatment. Isotopes carrying low doses of radiation are attached to nanobodies and transmitted inside the body to directly target tumours. RAD201 is a HER2 nanobody.

For imaging or diagnosing cancer cells very low levels of radiation are employed. Higher levels are used to destroy the tumours.

The positive data backs up previous data regarding the safety profile for the use of RAD201 in the treatment of 10 patients, as reported last year by the American Chemical Society.

Melbourne-based Radiopharm listed on the ASX in November last year following a $50 million IPO to enable it to focus on developing radiopharmaceutical products to both diagnose or image tumours and destroy them.

Breast cancer is regarded as the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia after prostate cancer and the second leading cause of death for women in the USA after lung cancer.

The global market for breast cancer therapeutics was calculated at US$21.6 billion in 2019 and is expected to surpass US$55 billion by 2027.

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