Sam Brusco, Associate Editor10.12.23
GE HealthCare began a global licensing deal with SOFIE Biosciences to develop, manufacture, and commercialize SOFIE’s two investigational Gallium-68 and Fluorine-18 Fibroblast Activation Protein Inhibitors (FAPI) radiopharmaceutical diagnostics: [68Ga]FAPI-46 and outside-U.S. rights for [18F]FAPI-74.
FAP is an enzyme that’s highly expressed in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF), part of the tumor’s microenvironment that supports cancer cells’ growth and spread. CAF is present in breast, pancreatic, colorectal, lung, liver, and gastric cancers.
Developing FAP-targeted diagnostics could hold great promise for oncology, as well as conditions like inflammation, fibrosis, and arthritis. As part of the deal, GE HealthCare said it will help SOFIE advance FAP imaging through clinical trials, regulatory submission, and eventually global commercialization.
Usankar Thiru, strategy and evaluation director with GE HealthCare’s Pharmaceutical Diagnostics business told the press, “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 personalized 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 utilize them, to drive innovation in healthcare to benefit patients and clinicians.”
Sherly Mosessian, Ph.D, SOFIE’s chief scientific officer, added, “The FAPI family of compounds have shown to have tremendous potential in diagnostic and companion diagnostic use in various oncologic and non-oncologic indications. I am very excited that we are collaborating with GE HealthCare, on a worldwide scale, to help jointly unlock the full promise of these products.”
Earlier this year, GE Healthcare also began an R&D partnership with the Mayo Clinic to develop medical imaging and theranostics innovations.
FAP is an enzyme that’s highly expressed in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF), part of the tumor’s microenvironment that supports cancer cells’ growth and spread. CAF is present in breast, pancreatic, colorectal, lung, liver, and gastric cancers.
Developing FAP-targeted diagnostics could hold great promise for oncology, as well as conditions like inflammation, fibrosis, and arthritis. As part of the deal, GE HealthCare said it will help SOFIE advance FAP imaging through clinical trials, regulatory submission, and eventually global commercialization.
Usankar Thiru, strategy and evaluation director with GE HealthCare’s Pharmaceutical Diagnostics business told the press, “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 personalized 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 utilize them, to drive innovation in healthcare to benefit patients and clinicians.”
Sherly Mosessian, Ph.D, SOFIE’s chief scientific officer, added, “The FAPI family of compounds have shown to have tremendous potential in diagnostic and companion diagnostic use in various oncologic and non-oncologic indications. I am very excited that we are collaborating with GE HealthCare, on a worldwide scale, to help jointly unlock the full promise of these products.”
Earlier this year, GE Healthcare also began an R&D partnership with the Mayo Clinic to develop medical imaging and theranostics innovations.