![]() ![]() Theragnostics are further aiding drug development by showing which agents are most viable and reducing the overall cost of bringing a drug to clinical trials and regulatory approval. Recent successes such as the FDA approval of Luta Thera® and NETSPOT™ have resulted in an increasing number of pharmaceutical companies pursing theragnostics more » further heightened by the purchase of Advanced Accelerator Applications for 3.9 billion by Novartis and Endocyte, Inc for 2.1 billion. Enabling visualization and quantitation of in vivo function of the whole body and thus patient heterogeneity and variability informs the physician on how to treat an individual patient. Theragnostics is defined as the use of molecular diagnostic techniques in real-time to stratify patients to guide treatment decisions such as the choice of drug, the dose of administration and the timing of drug delivery for a given patient. Additionally, nuclear medicine is now leading medical practice in personalized medicine using the theragnostic approach. Proceed to today where Molecular imaging is fast-tracking the drug discovery process by reducing both the time and cost to screen candidates by quantitating the drugs effect on the target and toxicity to normal tissues. Challenges being the prohibitively high cost of drug development and the large number of drugs failing in clinical trials. The Swiss big pharma company has been steadily bulking up in cancer via bolt-on acquisitions, for example by buying up GlaxoSmithKline’s oncology assets in 2015 in a $16bn deal, acquiring US biopharma Admune Therapeutics and announcing a string of licensing deals for cancer candidates, mainly in immuno-oncology.We report that Nuclear Medicine has come a long way since 2007 when Adrian Nunn pointed out the approval of radiopharmaceuticals was at an all-time low with all the major radiopharmaceutical agents in use having been approved over 10 years ago. Latterly Sandostatin has played second fiddle to Afinitor, which is rolling out in multiple NET tumour types including gastrointestinal and lung NET last year and brought in $1.1bn in the same period. The popularity of a long-acting version means it It’s still a big earner for Novartis however, with sales of around $1.2bn in the first nine months of this year, down just 4%. Novartis has no heritage in this type of medicine but already markets two drugs for NET – Sandostatin (octreotide) and Afinitor/Votubia (everolimus) – so the acquisition makes sense from a franchise perspective, particularly as Sandostatin has now lost patent protection for the immediate-release formulation. AAA was spun out 15 years ago from Cern, the European nuclear research organisation. With the acquisition, Novartis is aiming to add AAA’s Lutathera (Lutetium Lu177 dotatate) for treating gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (NET) – approved in the EU and heading for an FDA decision towards the end of January – plus two commercial NET imaging agents (NetSpot and Somakit) already generating revenues.Īdded to that, the acquisition adds a pipeline of early-stage radionuclide candidates for other types of cancer, including several solid tumours including prostate cancer. The tender offer will expire at midnight on January 19 unless extended, said Novartis. Novartis offer to buy the company was made in October and – after negotiations with company’s works council – AAA’s board has now given its blessing to the $41 per share takeover, which values the French company at $3.9bn. Novartis has started its cash tender offer for French firm Advanced Accelerator Applications, which specialises in radiopharmaceuticals to treat cancer.
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