Boston-based Aktis Oncology has raised $175 million in fresh funding to advance its pipeline of radiopharmaceutical medicines for cancer.
The Series B round, announced by Aktis Monday, was led by RA Capital Management and co-led by RTW Investments and Janus Henderson Investors. It also drew in pharmas that had previously backed Aktis, namely Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Merck & Co., the latter of which invested via its MRL Ventures Fund.
Alongside the funding, Aktis disclosed that it will share data on its research progress at the upcoming EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, which takes place in Barcelona next month.
Aktis’ funding is further evidence of industry interest in radiopharma, which have enticed investors as an alternative way to precisely target tumors. The field has benefited from the success of Novartis’ radiopharma drugs Pluvicto and Lutathera, the former of which analysts predict could eventually earn over $2 billion a year.
Radiopharma development is challenging, though, requiring specialized manufacturing as well as finely tuned supply chains to ensure treatments are delivered before the radioisotopes that power them degrade.
Yet those hurdles haven’t stopped biotechs large and small from investing. A large number of startups are active, providing plentiful deal targets for the large pharma companies that are now stepping in. Last year, Bristol Myers agreed to spend $4.1 billion to buy RayzeBio, while Eli Lilly acquired Point Biopharma for $1.4 billion. Earlier this year, Lilly also partnered with Aktis to develop radiopharma drugs, paying $60 million upfront.
And, in June, AstraZeneca completed its deal to buy out Fusion Pharmaceuticals for $2.4 billion.
Aktis specializes in what are known as alpha particle-emitting radiopharma drugs. Its lead candidate, a “miniprotein radioconjugate,” targets a protein called nectin-4 that’s expressed by bladder cancers and other solid tumors.
In conjunction with the financing, RA Capital Management managing director Andrew Levin will join Aktis’ board of directors. Lauren Lee of RTW Investments and Vish Sridharan of Janus Henderson Investors will become board observers, according to Aktis.
