ITM and Scil Proteins agree targeted radio conjugates partnership

ITM Isotopen Technologien München (ITM), a specialist radiopharmaceutical company, has formed a partnership with Scil Proteins, an expert in affinity ligands and targeted carriers, covering the field of targeted radio conjugates.

The partners plan to discover and develop of targeted radio conjugates for imaging and therapy purposes, in a variety of indications.

Scil Proteins will handle the discovery and design of the radio conjugates based on its proprietary Affilin platform, while ITM will use its radioisotope technology and be responsible for later-stage development and commercialisation. The first programme has started in the area of targeted cancer treatment.

'ITM has outstanding capabilities and deep expertise in targeted radionuclide imaging and radionuclide therapy and this collaboration reinforces our leadership in the generation of targeted carriers as homogenous products specifically tailored to imaging and therapy applications,' said Henning Afflerbach, CEO of Scil Proteins.

'We have been impressed by the potential of Scil’s platform to deliver compounds with precisely engineered carriers,' added Steffen Schuster, CEO of ITM. 'This enables us to select the compounds' half-lives, short-term for imaging applications and longer-term for therapeutic applications – a perfect fit to our precision oncology strategy.'

Affilin-based biomolecules are derived from human scaffold proteins and have high stability, affinity and specificity, making them suitable for a range of applications, including those where antibodies have limitations, thus broadening the potential of biotherapeutics.

Earlier this month, ITM raised €20m in equity from Medtech Focused Family Office and will use the funds for further development of its pipeline of targeted radionuclide therapies and to bring its products faster to the market. The investment will also ensure the continuing growth of the company.