Nusano and Starget Pharma Announce Supply Agreement to Accelerate Smart Targeted Radioligand Development

VALENCIA, Calif. and TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 17, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nusano, a physics company transforming the production of radioisotopes, and Starget Pharma, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision peptide radioligand therapies focused on difficult to treat cancers, today announced a supply agreement to advance the development of Starget’s Smart Targeted Radioligands (STRs). The supply agreement is expected to support Starget’s STR isotope needs from discovery through commercialization and will include both common radioisotopes as well as rare alpha particle-emitters such as Astatine-211, Lead-212, and Actinium-225.

“We are excited to partner with Nusano, a leader in radioisotope production, to support the development of our novel pipeline of smart targeted radioligands,” said Sigal Kalmanson Cusnir, CEO of Starget Pharma. “Our STR platform technology enables the rapid design and evaluation of radiotherapies in an isotope-agnostic manner, allowing us to optimize performance by tumor type. We are focused now on advancing our clinical pipeline, beginning with the planned initiation of a Phase 1b clinical trial in early 2025. The Nusano agreement will ensure that we have a reliable radioisotope supply chain, facilitating near and long term growth, with the ultimate goal of radically improving patient care and outcomes.”

Starget’s STR platform is advancing the field of molecular radiation using its proprietary backbone cyclization technology to create innovative and diversified peptide radioligand candidates with enhanced properties. These STRs are designed to bind and deliver a payload of radiation specifically to biological targets that are overexpressed in cancer compared to normal cells. This highly focused radiation then damages the DNA in the cancer cells, leading to selective cell death and tumor shrinkage. Due to their unique molecular interaction with the target, STRs act with high sensitivity and precision, enabling effective radiation targeting tumors and metastasis.

Radioisotopes are essential components in the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) used in new and emerging cancer therapies including molecular radiation. Existing supply chains for these treatment-enabling resources are often strained, posing a risk to patient care, clinical trials, and ongoing drug development.

Nusano is working to stabilize supply chains and enable innovation by bringing new sources of radioisotopes to medical and industrial markets. Opening in 2025 in West Valley City, Utah, the Nusano production platform will be capable of generating more than 25 radioisotopes applicable to medical and industrial uses. It is anchored by a proprietary ion source technology which accelerates heavy particles (alphas and deuterons) to generate high volume, high quality (cGMP-grade) radioisotopes with unparalleled efficiency using eco-friendly methods. The result is one of the first significant advancements in radioisotope production in decades. 

Chris Lowe, CEO of Nusano commented, “The Nusano platform will make medical radioisotopes available in varieties and volumes needed to broaden and accelerate radiotherapeutics development. We share Starget’s enthusiasm for finding the right isotope to target specific tumor types and look forward to working with them to advance more isotopes into clinical development for the betterment of cancer patients around the world.”

About Nusano
Nusano is a privately held physics company committed to bringing supply stability and innovation to the rapidly emerging and critically undersupplied medical radioisotopes market, and to serving industrial and commercial markets dependent on reliable access to high quality radioisotopes for their products and services. Driven by the company’s proprietary ion source, the Nusano production platform will generate radioisotopes in volumes and varieties exceeding other production methods. Nusano’s breakthrough technologies are poised to help supply the fight against cancer and enable innovation across multiple industries. For more, please visit nusano.com.

About Starget Pharma
Starget Pharma is a clinical stage company developing a pipeline of radiotherapy programs generated using its proprietary Backbone Dynamics peptide platform that leverages backbone cyclic innovations and in-silico AI to rapidly design highly specific Smart Targeted Radioligands (STRs) that deliver focused radiation for the imaging and treatment of cancer. These STR’s are designed to engage novel and validated tumor-specific targets with either alpha or beta isotopes. Starget’s lead program targets SSTR-3, a somatostatin receptor that is overexpressed in tumor cells compared to healthy tissues and has enhanced cell internalization compared to other tumor targets. First-in-human data have demonstrated promising safety and good tumor uptake. A Phase 1b trial is expected to begin in early 2025 at multiple cancer centers in the U.S. Beyond its lead program, Starget has a robust pipeline encompassing novel tumor targets and isotopes, offering first-in-class and best-in-class potential for a variety of metastatic cancers. For more information, visit stargetpharma.com.

Contacts:

Nusano

• Media: Scott Larrivee, Nusano, 608-345-6629, scott.larrivee@nusano.com
• Investor Relations: Joyce Allaire, LifeSci Advisors, LLC, 212-915-2569, jallaire@lifesciadvisors.com

Starget Pharma

• Media and Investor Relations: Sigal Kalmanson ir@stargetpharma.com