Telix in-licenses Lilly's discarded olaratumab antibody

Australia’s Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX: TLX) saw its shares edge up 2.3% to A$4.51 as it revealed it has licensed exclusive worldwide rights from Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) to develop and commercialize radiolabelled forms of olaratumab for diagnosis and treatment of soft tissue sarcoma.

Lilly previously gained regulatory approval for olaratumab as a non-radiolabelled monoclonal antibody and marketed the drug under the Lartruvo trade name. However, in April 2019, the drug was withdrawn from the market for the treatment of advanced STS due to disappointing clinical trial results in which Lartruvo did not improve survival for patients.

PDGFRα is expressed in multiple tumor types including STS. STS is generally a radiation susceptible cancer that may be inherently amenable to systemic radionuclide therapy and olaratumab’s ability to target PDGFRα makes it a highly novel and potentially exciting candidate for use as a radionuclide targeting agent, the Australian firm said.