Stony Brook University signs licensing agreement with Perspective Therapeutics
STONY BROOK, NY, March 18, 2024 – Image-guided radionuclide therapy uses radioactive molecules designed to specifically
target and kill cancer cells while sparing non-cancerous tissues. This form of targeted
therapy can be effective against cancer, but traditional methods for applying this
therapy can also result in significant adverse effects related to off-target radiation
toxicity. A team of Stony Brook University researchers developed a new method for
image-guided radionuclide therapy that uses a two-step process with specially-modified
antibodies to target the cancerous tumors, followed by a radioligand designed to bind
specifically to the modified antibody.
Preliminary studies have shown that the approach can drastically reduce adverse effects
while remaining extremely effective at targeting and killing the cancer cells. The
promise of this technology has led to an exclusive licensing agreement with Perspective Therapeutics, Inc., headquartered in Seattle, WA.
The licensing agreement with Perspective Therapeutics is through the Research Foundation
for State University of New York’s (SUNY), a private, non-profit, education corporation
that manages research administration and intellectual property for and on behalf of
SUNY.
Nuclear imaging and targeted radionuclide therapy with biological molecules are a
rapidly growing approach for the diagnosis, staging, and treatment of cancer and other
pathologies such as inflammation and infection. Traditionally, the therapy has primarily
been used in specific diseases such as thyroid cancer, bone cancer metastases, and
neuroendocrine cancer. However, a major potential drawback of existing technologies
is a resulting high radiation dose to healthy tissues from the combination of long-lived
radionuclides and long biological half-life of the targeting molecules.
Jacob L Houghton, PhD, in his Stony Brook Cancer Center laboratory.
Credit: John Griffin
Stony Brook University radiology researchers Jacob L. Houghton, PhD, and Vilma I.J. Jallinoja, PhD, developed a new technology that overcomes these
hurdles to more widespread use of radionuclide therapy. The platform involves using
a small molecule that is labeled with a therapeutic radionuclide known as a radioligand,
along with a modified monoclonal antibody – such as those used in immunotherapies
to target cancer cells – in a two-step process. The platform enabled them to use the
specificity of monoclonal antibodies to target cancer and take advantage of a small
molecule radioligand in a manner that retains the efficacy of the therapy while substantially
improving the safety through a reduction in radiation toxicity.
Houghton, an Assistant Professor in the Department Radiology in the Renaissance School
of Medicine (RSOM), and researcher in the Stony Brook Cancer Center, conducts research
on targeted radionuclide therapy for diagnosing and treating cancer. He will continue
to collaborate with scientists at Perspective Therapeutics as they further develop
the technology. Jallinoja is no longer at Stony Brook.
“Our technology allows the use of such molecules for imaging and therapy while abrogating
the concerns of radiation toxicity by using a pre-targeting technique which enables
us to ‘label’ the biological molecule after it has been delivered to the target tissue
and cleared from peripheral tissues,” explains Houghton.
Specifically, the pre-targeting radionuclide approach involves these steps: an antibody
that has been modified to include an artificial binding group is administered to target
to the tumor; then the radioligand carries the radionuclide to the tumor which binds
specifically to the artificial binding group on the antibody. The radioligand rapidly
accumulates in the tumor via this highly-specific interaction, and the unbound radioligand
clears the body quickly. This process allows for optimal delivery of the radioactivity
to the tumor, with little interaction with healthy tissue and organs.
This method differs from traditional approaches to targeted radionuclide therapy that
directly attaches the radioactive payload to the targeting antibody, which can take
days to accumulate in the tumor, leading to increased exposure to healthy tissues.
“By embracing a strategy that leverages the precision of monoclonal antibodies and
the versatility of small molecules, Perspective is poised to redefine the landscape
of radiation therapy,” says Thijs Spoor, Chief Executive Officer at Perspective Therapeutics.
“One of our core missions as a company is to deliver safe and effective radiotherapies
to patients.”
The team at Stony Brook University’s Intellectual Property Partners (IPP) worked to create the license with Perspective and develop a partnership to
bridge new radiopharmaceutical technologies into eventual diagnostics and treatments.
“We are excited to partner with Perspective Therapeutics to advance this novel CB7-Adma
pre-targeting platform toward clinical use. The combination of Perspective’s propriety
radionuclide chelators and our pre-targeting platform has the potential to significantly
improve clinical outcomes in a variety of cancer indications,” says Sean Boykevisch,
PhD, Director of the IPP. “This partnership is a great example of how IPP works with
Stony Brook inventors, helping them bridge their innovations with societal benefit
in collaboration with industry partners.”
Perspective Therapeutics is a radiopharmaceutical development company that is pioneering
the delivery of powerful radiation specifically to cancer cells via specialized targeting
peptides. The Company is also developing complementary imaging diagnostics that incorporate
the same targeting peptides. This “theranostic” approach is designed to see the specific
tumor and then treat it to potentially improve efficacy and minimize toxicity associated
with cancer treatments.
