NEW YORK – Radiopharmaceutical biotech ITM Isotope Technologies Munich on Tuesday closed a €33 million ($36.4 million) private equity investment round.
Indigenous Critical Infrastructure Fund Canada and a private equity fund managed by Portland Investment Counsel participated in the round. The company will use the funds to advance clinical trials of its lead targeted radiopharmaceutical candidate ITM-11. If the therapy achieves regulatory approval, the funds will also support commercialization and market launch efforts.
ITM is evaluating ITM-11, or 177Lu-edotreotide, in two Phase III clinical studies. One trial is testing the drug in combination with Novartis' Afinitor (everolimus) in patients with inoperable, progressive, somatostatin receptor-positive neuroendocrine tumors of gastroenteric or pancreatic origin. The other trial is exploring ITM-11 as a monotherapy against standard-of-care treatments, including chemotherapy and Afinitor, in patients with somatostatin receptor-positive neuroendocrine tumors of gastroenteric or pancreatic origin.
The company will also use the funds to advance its other targeted radiopharmaceutical products, including drugs and companion diagnostics for glioblastoma, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, and osteosarcoma.
In February, ITM received a €25 million equity investment from its strategic partner Grand Pharmaceutical Group. The companies have a licensing agreement, under which Grand Pharma can develop, manufacture, and commercialize ITM-11, its companion diagnostic TOCscan, and another pipeline candidate, dubbed ITM-41, in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.