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- Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) is set to acquire a private US company
- QSAM Biosciences develops bone cancer treatments
- CycloSam, AKA Samarium-153-DOTMP, is QSAM’s lead asset
- A therapeutic radiopharmaceutical, the treatment is familiar to medical literature
- Shares are up 1.15 per cent, trading at $9.26 at 11:53 am AEDT
Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) has outlined its intention to acquire private US healthcare firm QSAM Biosciences.
The company announced the proposed acquisition to shareholders this morning, based on synergies between the two companies.
QSAM Bioscience’s leading product intends to mitigate bone cancer.
Called ‘CycloSam’, QSAM’s flagship asset hosts the technical name Samarium-153-DOTMP.
Strategic acquisition
“CycloSam is highly synergistic with Telix’s existing therapeutic development activity in both prostate cancer and sarcoma,” the company wrote.
“The proposed acquisition, subject to customary completion terms, will further enhance and differentiate Telix’s innovation position.
“[This acquisition provides the chance] to provide a continuum of care to patients from diagnosis and staging, systemic treatment of metastatic disease, to palliative care.
What is Samarium-153-DOTMP?
A therapeutic radionuclide, Samarium-153-DOTMP’s well-studied for its apparent ‘preference’ to stay inside human bone, when introduced into the body.
Radionuclides are atoms or molecules which target specific internal tumours or lesions.
Those atoms express radiation at the site of abnormality, delivering precision radiation therapy.
QSAM Biosciences is a bone cancer-facing company, and Samarium-153-DOTMP boasts a high level of retention in human bone.
The compound has previously been tested on dogs with bone cancer in a 2011 study.
Different forms of Samarium-153 have also been found to have been uptaken in human bone in studies going back to 1993.
Telix share price pressure
In mid-October, Telix shareholders had one particularly bad afternoon.
The company’s share price dived more than 15 per cent following the release of results in another cancer study.
Results in an anti-tumour trial were, on the whole, not world-changing and shareholders sold off, notwithstanding a red day for the healthcare sector in the background.
Telix shares were up 1.15 per cent, trading at $9.26 at 11:53 am AEDT.
