Ariceum Therapeutics GmbH is to work with the Belgian pharma company UCB SA to discover new radiotherapeutics for the treatment of cancer and immune-related disorders. Announced on 11 May, the agreement follows a decision by Ariceum’s investors to provide a further €22.75 million in capital to the company to progress its pipeline.
Ariceum is a clinical-stage concern whose lead product is in development for the treatment of neuroendocrine tumours and small cell lung cancer. The product, Lu-satoreotide tetraxetan (satoreotide), is a theranostic for the combined diagnosis and targeted radionuclide treatment of these tumours. The new agreement with UCB will expand Ariceum’s radiotherapeutic platform to discover conjugate therapies that link peptides to radioisotopes. UCB will contribute synthetic macrocyclic peptides, or peptides that span multiple amino acid residues, to the programme. Ariceum will provide radiochemistry and labelling technology.
Both companies will have the opportunity to explore several targets in their therapeutic areas of interest. Financial terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.
The agreement follows the announcement of a similar pact in March between Bicycle Therapeutics Plc and Novartis which will see the two companies develop radioisotope conjugates.
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