GE HealthCare and SOFIE Biosciences have signed an exclusive global licensing agreement for the latter's Gallium-68 and fluorine-18-labelled diagnostics targeting fibroblast activation protein (FAP).
FAP, a highly expressed enzyme in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), plays a key role in the tumour microenvironment by promoting the growth and spread of cancer cells.
Under the deal, the companies will work together on the development, manufacturing and commercialisation of both the labelled diagnostics.
Based on the agreement with SOFIE, GE Healthcare will acquire the global rights for [68Ga]FAPI-46 and the rights outside the US for [18F]FAPI-74.
These radiotracers were originally developed at Heidelberg University in Germany and are presently undergoing Phase II clinical trials in the US.
SOFIE will proceed with the clinical development and commercialisation of [18F]FAPI-74 in the US.
GE HealthCare pharmaceutical diagnostics segment strategy and evaluation director Usankar Thiru said: “Working with SOFIE to add these FAPI assets to our next-generation portfolio of investigational targets is a significant milestone and aligns with our vision to expand our innovation pipeline to enable precision care for personalised treatment decision-making.
“As a standalone company, we are keen to collaborate with companies like SOFIE in this way, bringing our size, scale and unique perspective as a developer of both radiopharmaceuticals and the scanners needed to utilise them to drive innovation in healthcare to benefit patients and clinicians.”
Prior to this development, GE HealthCare initiated its Venue Family point-of-care ultrasound systems with the new artificial intelligence-driven technology feature, Caption Guidance.
