The Radiopharmaceutical Renaissance: Radiating Hope in Medicine

The year 2022 was a watershed year for the radiopharmaceuticals space with 25 strategic transactions and $527M invested from the VC community. Despite an overall downturn in the biotech market in the 2022-2023 timeframe, the strategic and VC activity within the radiopharmaceutical space has remained relatively strong. Indeed, the average raise for radiopharma sponsors in 2023 was $51M, which eclipsed that of 2022, $38M.

In our ongoing series of commercial landscapes across healthcare, Brianne Sullivan, Andrew David and Peter Bak assesses the therapeutic applications of radiopharmaceuticals and the ongoing evolution of the precision medicine field which has inspired a recent flurry of licensing, M&A, and VC activity over the past five years.

While approved radiotherapies and theranostics are currently limited to oncology, development efforts have recently begun to extend beyond oncology to include immunologic and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and migraines. The ability to combine diagnostics and therapy in a personalized manner holds great promise for optimizing treatment strategies and advancing precision medicine approaches.