Life Healthcare’s subsidiary, Life Molecular Imaging (LMI), has sub-licensed its early-stage novel radiotherapeutic and radio diagnostic products (RM2) to US-based Lantheus Holdings.
The transaction comes just months after the JSE-listed Life Healthcare decided to keep LMI in its portfolio when it sold Alliance Medical Group for R21bn.
Under the terms of the agreement, Lantheus will pay an upfront fee of $35m for the sub-licensing rights, with LMI set for other payments ”on the achievement of development and regulatory milestones as well as royalty payments when the product is sold commercially”.
Lantheus is a prominent player in the field of radiopharmaceuticals, operating in the US and listed on Nasdaq stock market.
“When we sold Alliance Medical Group, we decided to keep LMI and not sell it because we saw it was a valuable asset and we thought that we could deliver value for shareholders. With a strike of one agreement, we just received a fee of R650m,” Life Healthcare CEO Peter Wharton-Hood told Business Day.
He added that the money paid for the sub-licensing deal was confirmation that radiotherapy and radio diagnostics were in demand .
RM2 can be used to treat multiple malignant tumors like prostate, breast, lung, glioma and ovarian tumours
Wharton-Hood said negotiations between Life Healthcare and Lantheus spanned seven months. He said patients’ need for RM2 was everywhere in the world but “the markets that render this variable are those healthcare environments that take the deployment of radiopharmaceuticals seriously”.
“By far the US is by far the most advanced and the most prolific, [as well as] Scandanavian and European countries. The opportunity exists in SA, but it will take time before that becomes deployable,” said Wharton-Hood.
He added that the opportunity to do deals such as this one in the future exists.
The CEO of LMI, Ludger Dinkelborg, said that the sub-licensing agreement secured Lantheus’ rights to develop the product and complete the early development in collaboration with LMI.
“With Lantheus’ experience in developing and providing access to radiotheranostics in cancer, we are confident in our decision to hand them the reins for this promising theranostic pair and are honored to work with them toward improving the future of people with prostate and breast cancer,” said Dinkelborg,
LMI has a product, Neuraceq®, which has been approved in many countries and is used to detect amyloid plaque in the brain through a PET-CT Scan, and has multiple products in early clinical development.
LMI also provides clinical research services for pharmaceutical companies.
Life Healthcare said it had retained R1bn to provide for funding requirements of LMI as part of the Alliance Medical Group disposal, which was concluded earlier in 2024.
"This transaction will reduce the quantum required and Life Healthcare will consider distributing a portion of the surplus to shareholders as part of the full year dividend,” Wharton-Hood said.
With Kabelo Khumalo
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