Radiopharmaceutical biotech company Actithera has closed an oversubscribed $75.5 million Series A financing round.  

The financing will support the advancement of Actithera’s lead fibroblast activation protein (FAP)-targeting asset into clinical development in multiple indications, while also enabling the continued development of its radioligand therapies (RLT) discovery platform and preclinical pipeline. 

The round was co-led by founding investor M Ventures and new lead investors Hadean Ventures, Sofinnova Partners, and 4BIO Capital, with additional participation from Bioqube Ventures, Innovestor’s Life Science Fund, Investinor, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), and second founding investor, Arkin Bio Ventures II. 

The company’s discovery platform combines rational drug design with radiochemistry to create novel small molecule radioligands that overcome current limitations in radiopharmaceutical development. 

This platform was validated through Actithera’s work on FAP, a high-value theranostic target known for being difficult to drug with molecules that maintain prolonged tumour residency.  

These efforts have resulted in a FAP-directed RLT development candidate with best-in-class potential due to its optimal pharmacokinetic profile and tumour specificity. 

Dr Andreas Goutopoulos, Founder and CEO, said: “We set out to bring structure-based and kinetics-driven thinking from small molecule drug design into the world of radiopharmaceuticals. This oversubscribed Series A, backed by a truly global and experienced investor syndicate, is strong validation of our approach.  

“We engineer our radioconjugates for extended retention within tumours, making them ideally suited for longer-lived radionuclides and ultimately delivering more convenient dosing schedules and enhanced efficacy and safety for patients.” 

Diana Turner, Senior Digital Content Editor, DDW