GE Healthcare and Theragnostics have announced the forming of a global commercial partnership for a new Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) PET/CT imaging agent.
The company confirmed that it will lead the development of the tracer, GalliProst, while GE Healthcare will lead all pre-approval commercial preparations and as and when approval is received, all subsequent commercial and distribution activities.
The diagnostic workflow for detecting prostate cancer starts through a blood test or biopsy, after which patients are typically referred for PET/CT imaging so that radiologists can see their tumour, lymph nodes and any metastasis in order to decide the appropriate course of treatment.
The “heatmap” style image enabled by the new tracer shows the precise location and intensity of PSMA, which is expressed on the surface of prostate cancer cells.
Theranostics has reported data from a phase two clinical study which met its primary and secondary endpoints, demonstrating that one third of newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients – and over 50% of patients with biochemically recurrent disease – had their treatment plans modified as a result of a GalliProst scan.
Greg Mullen, CEO of Theragnostics said that the agreement is “validation of the potential for our novel prostate cancer Gallium-68 (68Ga) diagnostic tracer, GalliProst which can benefit the treatment of prostate cancer patients around the globe.”
He went on to say the company is “very pleased to sign our second agreement with GE Healthcare following our agreement last year for a diagnostic tracer for imaging kidney function and scarring.”
Prostate cancer is the fourth largest cancer type accounting for just over 1.2 million new cases and over 350,000 fatalities around the globe in 2018.
