Perspective Therapeutics, Inc. announced that it has executed an exclusive license agreement with Stony Brook University for the rights to its Cuburbit uril-admantane (CB7-Adma) pre-targeting platform and was awarded the Phase I tranche of a 2.5-year, Fastrack Small Business Innovation Research grant (Phase I $400,000; total $2.4 million) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute in support of Perspective?s CB7-Adma host-guest pre-targeting program for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Pre-targeting using the CB7-Adma platform involves two-steps. First, an antibody that binds with high specificity to a cancer-specific protein is administered via intravenous injection.

This antibody is chemically modified to include the CB7 chemical entity and accumulates over time at the tumor site. Then, a radionuclide held tightly by Perspective?s proprietary chelator attached to an Adma group is administered. The Adma group binds to the CB7 group that was previously attached to the cancerous cells with remarkable specificity, delivering radiation dose selectively to the tumor sites.

Central to this innovation is CB7-Adma (host-guest) complex formation, driving the interaction between the antibody and radioligand. The chosen host-guest pair, CB7-Adma, demonstrates promising in vivo stability, modularity, and low immunogenicity. The platform's potential was validated through in vivo profiling of ligands, employing a CB7-modified carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) targeting antibody.

The exclusive license with Stony Brook University covers the global intellectual property rights for the CB7-Adma pre-targeting platform. The research conducted at Stony Brook University refines the understanding of the potential of the proprietary CB7-Adma pre-targeting platform for image-guided radionuclide therapy for oncology. The technology was first described by Stony Brook University researchers, Jacob L. Houghton, Ph.D. and Vilma I.J. Jallinoja, Ph.D., in the article, Pretargeting with Cucurbituril?Adamantane Host?Guest Pair in Xenograft Models, published in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

A recent presentation by the Stony Brook team at the World Molecular Imaging Congress 2023, Cucurbit uril-adamantane host:guest pretargeting with 203Pb-labeled radioligands in xenograft models, demonstrated the feasibility of this approach in combination with Perspective?s lead-specific chelator (PSC).