FogPharma, Artbio join forces to design a different radiopharma drug

FogPharma and Artbio, two buzzy biotechnology companies, are betting they can combine their respective technologies to design a new type of radiopharmaceutical drug for cancer.

The companies didn’t disclose financial terms for the alliance they announced Tuesday, but said they will contribute equally to co-develop drugs against multiple cancer targets.

FogPharma, which in March raised $145 million in fresh funding, specializes in what it terms “Helicons” — short chains of amino acids twisted into a helix shape the company claims unlocks advantageous drug properties. Artbio, meanwhile, is developing lead-based radiopharmaceuticals, which are designed to deliver radiation precisely into tumors.

In a statement, FogPharma CEO Mathai Mammen said his company’s Helicon technology would offer ways to target extracellular proteins while optimizing tissue distribution and elimination.

“This collaboration with FogPharma enables Artbio to advance next-generation therapeutics specifically designed to treat solid tumors,” said Emanuele Ostuni, head of Artbio, in the statement.

The radiopharma field is booming, drawing substantial investment from large companies and venture capital firms eager to capitalize on the drugs’ potential to balance cancer-killing potency with better safety. Artbio is one of more than a dozen recently launched startups, a number of which have been acquired by developers like Novartis, Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca.

Severl of Artbio’s executives are former employees of Novartis, which has catalyzed the field with the success of its approved drugs Pluvicto and Lutathera. Both of those medicines use lutetium as a radioisotope for treating prostate cancer and a type of gut tumor.

Others are exploring actinium, which emits a different kind of radiation, while Artbio is focusing on the lead radioisotope Pb-212. According to the startup, this isotope has a short half-life and can be imaged with a type of nuclear medicine scan called SPECT/CT.

The company raised $90 million in a Series A financing last December.