Point Biopharma slumps 35% on license deal with Lantheus for cancer drugs
Adam Smigielski
Point Biopharma Global's (NASDAQ:PNT) stock fell ~35% on Monday after the company said it was selling licensing rights to radiopharmaceutical cancer drug candidates PNT2002 and PNT2003 to Lantheus (NASDAQ:LNTH).
Upon completion, Lantheus will get exclusive worldwide rights, excluding certain territories, for the drug candidates. In return, Lantheus will pay a total $260M upfront between the two agreements, with the potential for additional milestone payments of ~$1.8B between the two products based on U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval and net sales and commercial milestones.
In addition, Lantheus will pay Point royalties on net sales of 20% for PNT2002 and 15% for PNT2003.
The companies said the agreements expand Lantheus' radiopharmaceutical portfolio with two late-stage therapeutic candidates and, with PNT2002, boosts Lantheus' prostate cancer franchise.
PNT2002 is a PSMA-targeted 177Lu-based radiopharmaceutical therapy for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Meanwhile, PNT2003 is a somatostatin receptor (SSTR) targeted radioligand therapy with no-carrier--added 177Lu in development for gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs), according to the companies.
Point will fund and complete its phase 3 trial, dubbed SPLASH, for PNT2002, after which Lantheus will file a new drug application (NDA) with Point to the FDA.
Looking ahead Point CEO Joe McCann said, "Specifically, we believe that PNT2004 is an incredibly exciting, high value opportunity. PNT2004 is our pan-cancer FAP-α program, which is currently in Phase 1. We will also continue to invest in PNT2001, our actinium-225 next-generation PSMA program, which is expected to begin Phase 1 in 2023, and other next-generation radioligand opportunities."