NEW YORK – ITM Isotope Technologies Munich said on Thursday that it has executed a licensing deal with Merck KGaA focused on clinically developing and commercializing folate receptor-targeting radiopharmaceuticals.
Under the terms of the deal, ITM will obtain folate precursors from Merck KGaA and use them to radiolabel its therapies for folate receptor-positive tumors that it is clinically developing and may eventually commercialize. The latest agreement between ITM and Germany's Merck KGaA is an expansion of a deal they initially announced in 2018, in which ITM gained worldwide rights to develop these folate receptor therapies in all folate-receptor positive malignant tumors.
ITM is developing several radiopharmaceutical treatments including ITM-52, a folate receptor α-targeting agent, which is designed to address current limitations in both screening and treating these patients.
The companies did not disclose the financial terms of their deal.