Orano Med has announced the inauguration of its ATLab (Alpha Therapy Laboratory) Valenciennes, a new facility dedicated to the production of lead-212-based radioligand therapies.
The opening marks Europe’s first industrial-scale pharmaceutical facility specifically dedicated to producing these therapies.
Orano Med is a subsidiary of the Orano Group, a major international industrial company specialising in materials and services across the entire nuclear fuel cycle.
Orano Med estimated that the new facility could produce up to 10,000 doses per year, with production potential that could be multiplied by five at full capacity.
The company added that it had invested €29m into ATLab Valenciennes, which covers more than 3000m2 and is located in Onnaing.
The site was also selected under the France 2030 plan following the call for “Industrialisation and health capacities 2030," receiving public support of almost €3.8m.
Why this matters
Lead-212-based targeted alpha therapies represent a new generation of cancer therapeutics.
However, lead-212 has a half-life of only 10.6 hours. As a result, producing and delivering these targeted alpha therapies requires particularly demanding logistics.
These treatments must be produced, shipped and administered to patients within 24 hours.
Orano Med's new Onnaing site sits just two hours from Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Brussels-Zaventem airports — a strategically beneficial location that makes it possible to deliver treatments to hospitals within the required time limit and cover nearly 70% of the European population.
The company added that it is also commissioning a similar production site in Indianapolis, in the US, to serve the North American market.
Nicolas Maes, CEO of Orano, commented: “The inauguration of ATLab Valenciennes marks a major industrial milestone for Orano Med and confirms the Orano group’s ability to innovate and deploy breakthrough technologies to advance healthcare."
This site embodies our commitment to putting our industrial know-how and our expertise in handling nuclear materials at the service of cancer patients, in France and across Europe.
Frederic Desdouits, CEO of Orano Med, added: “With the inauguration of ATLab Valenciennes, we have taken a decisive step in deploying our industrial platform in Europe."
The site provides large-scale production capacity designed to meet the logistical constraints resulting from the half-life of lead-212.
"In the future, the ATLab will enable us to offer European patients new therapeutic options for cancer types with high unmet medical needs.”
Orano Med said the new facility positions it well to address "key challenges in producing these targeted therapies, including isotope availability and scalable manufacturing."
The increased production capacity will support the company's targeted alpha therapies currently under development. Four drug candidates, either developed in-house or co-developed with partners Sanofi, Roche and Molecular Partners, are presently in clinical trials involving human subjects.
In parallel, Orano Med is also advancing a broad preclinical pipeline to extend the approach to different cancer types.
