Actithera, a radiopharmaceutical biotech company translating medicinal chemistry insights into next-generation radioligand therapies (RLTs), is announcing the close of an oversubscribed $75.5 million Series A financing round. The financing will support the advancement of Actithera’s lead FAP asset into clinical development in multiple indications, while also enabling the continued development of its proprietary RLT discovery platform and preclinical pipeline.
The round was co-led by founding investor M Ventures and new lead investors Hadean Ventures, Sofinnova Partners, and 4BIO Capital, with additional participation from Bioqube Ventures, Innovestor’s Life Science Fund, Investinor, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), and second founding investor, Arkin Bio Ventures II.
The Company’s discovery platform combines rational drug design with radiochemistry to create novel small molecule radioligands that overcome current limitations in radiopharmaceutical development. Its three-pillar platform includes first-in-class covalent targeting strategies, designed to optimize tumor residence time, while ensuring rapid systemic clearance – improving precision, safety, and efficacy. Two additional proprietary approaches further support compound differentiation and improve tumor residence time and selectivity. This platform was validated through Actithera’s work on FAP , a high-value theranostic target known for being difficult to drug with molecules that maintain prolonged tumor residency. These efforts have resulted in a FAP-directed RLT development candidate with best-in-class potential due to its optimal pharmacokinetic profile and tumor specificity.
Dr. Andreas Goutopoulos, founder and CEO, brings over 25 years of pharmaceutical and biotech industry experience, including a track record of more than a dozen development candidates. His background includes over a decade of discovery leadership at EMD Serono, where he led medicinal chemistry. In his role as Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) at M Ventures, he led the scientific efforts of and supported a number of oncology small molecule biotechs. At Actithera, he is pioneering a chemistry-driven, precision approach to RLTs by integrating novel covalent-targeting chemistries, rational drug design principles and an isotope-agnostic philosophy.
“We set out to bring structure-based and kinetics-driven thinking from small molecule drug design into the world of radiopharmaceuticals,” said Dr. Andreas Goutopoulos. “This oversubscribed Series A, backed by a truly global and experienced investor syndicate, is strong validation of our approach. We engineer our radioconjugates for extended retention within tumors, making them ideally suited forlonger lived radionuclides and ultimately delivering more convenient dosing schedules and enhanced efficacy and safety for patients.”
Read more about the company here.
For additional information:
Milla Koistinaho, Partner, Innovestor Life Science
milla.koistinaho@innovestor.fi