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Telix Pharmaceuticals to License FAP-Targeting Radiopharmaceuticals From German Researchers

NEW YORK – Telix Pharmaceuticals said on Tuesday that it is licensing new radiopharmaceutical assets designed to target the fibroblast activation protein (FAP), which is expressed by a number of solid cancers.  

The Melbourne, Australia-based firm is licensing the investigational FAP-targeting radiopharmaceuticals from Frank Roesch and colleagues at the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz in Germany.  

Under the agreement, Telix will pay €7 million (US $7.4 million) to Roesch and the German company Medianezia, which together hold the intellectual property rights to the FAP assets. The €7 million includes €700,000 paid at or prior to signing the agreements. Telix will pay another €3 million after one year, subject to potential indemnity setoff, and up to another €132 million, depending on whether the FAP assets achieve certain clinical development and regulatory milestones, both as diagnostic and therapeutic agents. If the agents reach certain commercial milestones on the diagnostic side, Telix will pay a further €20 million. The firm will also pay mid-single digit royalties on net sales, should the products see commercial approval as diagnostics and as therapeutic agents.  

According to Telix, the assets are designed with a novel structure meant to minimize off-target uptake, while extending tumor retention. These features could overcome some of the limitations seen with first-generation radiopharmaceuticals, the company said.  

Initially, Telix plans to develop the FAP-targeting radiopharmaceuticals for patients with bladder cancer, though the licensed assets have been clinically validated in more than 500 patients with a variety of FAP-expressing solid tumor types. Sarcomas and mesotheliomas also express FAP.  

"Telix will gain access to assets that are already significantly derisked with clinically demonstrated safety profile and efficacy," Telix CEO Richard Valeix said in a statement. "We will develop these assets in bladder cancer as a primary indication, in line with or focus on urological cancers, and explore the potential of FAP as a pan-cancer target, adding significant value to our pipeline."