With its latest obesity play appearing to pay off, Regeneron has turned its attention to radiopharmaceuticals.
The New York-based biopharma is paying Australia’s Telix Pharmaceuticals $40 million upfront to initially work across four solid tumor programs. Regeneron will pick the specific targets based on its own portfolio of antibodies.
The idea is then to utilize Telix’s radiopharmaceutical manufacturing platform to take these four programs forward. Regeneron also has the option to expand the collaboration to a further four programs in return for more upfront cash, according to an April 13 release.
Should a product make it to market, Telix and Regeneron will equally split the global commercialization costs and profits, with Telix also retaining an option to co-promote certain potential products. If Telix decides to opt out of this co-funding model for any of the programs, it can instead receive up to a potential $535 million in development and commercial milestones per program, along with low double-digit royalties on net sales.
It means that Telix could potentially have up to $2.1 billion in biobucks coming its way if it decides against the cost-sharing model for all four programs—assuming they each hit all of their milestones.
Israel Lowy, M.D., Ph.D., head of Regeneron’s oncology clinical development unit, suggested that these radiopharma drugs could be paired up with the company’s blockbuster carcinoma drug Libtayo.
“Regeneron is excited to enter the targeted radiopharmaceuticals space and explore the utility of these agents either as monotherapy or rationally combined with our immunotherapy platform, particularly in areas of high unmet patient need such as lung cancer, where our PD-1 inhibitor is a global standard of care,” Lowy said in the release.
Regeneron likely hopes its radiopharma play will be as productive as its recent further foray into obesity. Having paid $80 million upfront in 2025 to secure a phase 3-stage GLP-1/GIP dual agonist from Hansoh Pharma, Regeneron reported data from its Chinese partner last month that suggested the therapy could match Eli Lilly’s Zepbound when it comes to weight loss.
“At Regeneron, we follow the science to determine the best therapeutic approach for each disease, continuously expanding our toolbox of treatment modalities—from monoclonal and bispecific antibodies to cell therapies and beyond,” John Lin, M.D., Ph.D., SVP of oncology and antibody technology research at Regeneron, said.
“Targeted radiopharmaceuticals represent a rapidly emerging frontier in oncology and an exciting opportunity to bring new treatment options to patients in need,” Lin added.
When it comes to radiopharmaceuticals, Telix is an obvious choice. There was a point in 2024 when the Melbourne-based biotech had been lining up a $200 million Nasdaq IPO, but the company had second thoughts at the last minute. Instead, Telix channeled its energy into fleshing out its radiopharma capabilities, striking a $13.6 million acquisition of Texas-based CDMO IsoTherapeutics and an $82 million purchase of ARTMS and its cyclotron-based isotope production platform.
In addition, Telix purchased RLS Radiopharmacies to secure access to RLS’ network of 31 radiopharmacies across the U.S. and bought certain assets from radiopharma ImaginAb.
Since then, Telix has seen “promising efficacy” for its radiation therapy TLX101 in a small, single-arm study of patients with brain cancer. But the company’s diagnostic portfolio suffered a couple of regulatory setbacks last year when the FDA decided against approving Telix’s glioma imaging agent Pixclara or its renal cancer diagnostic agent Zircaix.
Interestingly, Regeneron and Telix’s collaboration will also stretch to diagnostics, with the companies only saying that Telix would lead on commercialization for these assets while Regeneron would receive a “set percentage of profits.”
“The collaboration with Regeneron reflects a highly complementary set of capabilities and a unique opportunity to explore what true ‘next gen’ biologics-based radiopharmaceuticals can potentially do for patients,” Christian Behrenbruch, Telix’s Group CEO, said in this morning’s release. “We are well-positioned to work toward the shared goal of advancing next-generation precision radiopharmaceuticals for patients with hard-to-treat cancers.”