NEW YORK – Venture capital firm Eclipse and the Mayo Clinic on Wednesday announced the launch of a new radiopharmaceutical company, dubbed Nucleus RadioPharma, having secured $6 million in seed funding.
Nucleus RadioPharma is the result of Eclipse's expertise in launching companies that use advanced manufacturing technologies and the Mayo Clinic's oncology know-how. The new company will provide solutions to drugmakers to ensure that all patients who can benefit from radiopharmaceuticals can access them.
To accomplish this, Nucleus RadioPharma will focus on modernizing the clinical development, manufacturing, and supply chain for radiopharmaceuticals. In a statement, Geoff Johnson, the chair of nuclear medicine at the Mayo Clinic, said that the new company's goal is to be the "glue that connects hospitals with radiopharmaceutical developers."
"Radiopharmaceuticals are proving to be highly effective treatment tools across a variety of cancer types, but the inefficiencies across the development, manufacturing, and supply chain have inhibited their widespread utilization," Nucleus RadioPharma CEO Charles Conroy said in a statement. "As the field of theranostics evolves, it will be imperative that we can develop and deliver these life-changing agents effectively to all patients who may benefit from their use."
Nucleus RadioPharma's launch comes during a time of increasing competition in the radiopharmaceutical space. At the same time, access disparities are becoming a more pressing issue for these treatments. In March, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Novartis' PSMA-directed radiopharmaceutical Pluvicto (177Lu-PSMA-617) for advanced prostate cancer patients, but shortly after the firm had to pause production due to manufacturing issues.