There's been a lot of attention lately on a corner of the oncology market called radiopharmaceuticals. The therapy seeks to destroy cancer cells by binding a radioactive particle to a targeted molecule and then dispatching it directly into the tumor. There are currently two products on the market from Novartis and a slew of clinical trials underway.
Interest is so high that within the past year it has been at the center of a flurry of acquisition announcements by big pharma. The latest came from Novartis earlier this month when it struck a deal to buy Mariana Oncology for $1 billion. Novartis already has two therapies on the market: Pluvicto, which treats a type of advanced prostate cancer, and Lutathera, which targets neuroendocrine tumors.
Eli Lilly completed its $1.4 billion acquisition of Point Biopharma in December and in February, Bristol-Myers Squibb finalized its $4.1 billion acquisition of RayzeBio.
Then in March, AstraZeneca said it plans to purchase clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Fusion Pharmaceuticals for $2.4 billion. "Any big pharma with an existing oncology presence probably wants to get into this game of radiopharmaceuticals because the data looks pretty good already," said Jefferies analyst Andrew Tsai.
"What you're seeing is that these companies [are] not necessarily acquiring the lead asset of these companies, but more so the manufacturing, the know-how. It seems very complicated to do it yourself," he added. A growth opportunity into the next dec.