Telix Acquires Optimal Tracers - PR Newswire APAC

MELBOURNE, Australia and INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., Nov. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: TLX, Telix, the Company) today announces that it has entered into an agreement with Sacramento-based Northern California PET Imaging Center (NCPIC) to acquire Optimal Tracers, a radiochemistry development business providing radiochemistry process development services and research tracers for use in clinical trials.

The acquisition of Optimal Tracers will bolster Telix's in-house radiochemistry development capability, by adding a highly skilled team to Telix and establishing a U.S.-based laboratory and production footprint for clinical trial doses. The acquisition includes a facility with a radiation and pharmaceutical manufacturing licence sufficient to cover the Company's key diagnostic and therapeutic isotope requirements for pre-clinical and clinical research purposes. The acquisition of Optimal Tracers aligns with Telix's strategy to build a degree of vertical integration, improve in-house research and radiopharmaceutical development capability and further develop novel tracers in its pipeline. Optimal Tracers will also remain available as a strategic collaborative resource to partner organisations and pharma collaborators that need access to specialist radiochemistry domain knowledge.  

Located in a translational research hub at the University of California, Davis (UCD), Optimal Tracers is a specialised business that provides development services and clinical trial doses to pharmaceutical and biotech companies, as well as academic research institutions.  Optimal Tracers is advantageously located to service leading clinical sites along the West Coast of the United States, with capability to deliver certain research products across the entire country.

Jonathan Barlow, SVP Global Business Development & Alliance Management said, "Optimal Tracers is an established business, with a highly regarded team and impressive client roster. They have built a strong reputation based on their deep technical skills and ability to help clients optimise drug development, production processes and quality control.  We are looking forward to welcoming the talented Optimal Tracers team into the Telix family - together harnessing an innovative approach to radiochemistry to further enhance Telix's pipeline and continue support of the Optimal Tracers business."

Ruth Tesar, CEO of NCPIC and Optimal Tracers added, "We are delighted that Optimal Tracers will become part of Telix, an established leader in the global radiopharmaceutical industry. Telix and Optimal Tracers are closely aligned in purpose and values, and I am excited about the growth opportunities this will offer our employees. We look forward to bringing our considerable depth of radiochemistry development knowledge and experience to Telix and contributing to the Company's future success."

Telix will fund the acquisition from operational cash flow. The purchase price is non-material and will be offset by Optimal Tracers' service provision and manufacturing income and cost savings from bringing radiochemistry-related R&D activities in-house. Telix will have ownership of all intellectual property, physical assets and licences of Optimal Tracers. 

About Optimal Tracers

Optimal Tracers is a division of Northern California PET Imaging Center, a community based not for profit business providing cutting edge clinical and clinical trial imaging and services to the Northern California region. Optimal Tracers provides manufacturing and development radiochemistry services in support of academic and pharmaceutical research activities.

About Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited

Telix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialisation of diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals. Telix is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia with international operations in the United States, Europe (Belgium and Switzerland), and Japan. Telix is developing a portfolio of clinical-stage products that aims to address significant unmet medical need in oncology and rare diseases. Telix is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: TLX). For more information visit www.telixpharma.com and follow Telix on Twitter (@TelixPharma) and LinkedIn.

Telix's lead product, gallium-68 (⁶⁸Ga) gozetotide (also known as ⁶⁸Ga PSMA-11) injection, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA),^[1] and by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA),^[2] and by Health Canada.^[3]

Telix Investor RelationsMs. Kyahn WilliamsonTelix Pharmaceuticals LimitedSVP Corporate Communications and Investor RelationsEmail: kyahn.williamson@telixpharma.com

This announcement has been authorised for release by the disclosure committee of Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited.

Legal Notices

This announcement is not intended as promotion or advertising directed to any healthcare professional or other audience in any country worldwide (including Australia, United States and the United Kingdom). This announcement may include forward-looking statements that relate to anticipated future events, financial performance, plans, strategies or business developments.  Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of words such as "may", "expect", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "anticipate", "outlook", "forecast" and "guidance", or other similar words. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's good-faith assumptions as to the financial, market, regulatory and other risks and considerations that exist and affect the Company's business and operations in the future and there can be no assurance that any of the assumptions will prove to be correct. In the context of Telix's business, forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements about: the initiation, timing, progress and results of Telix's preclinical and clinical studies, and Telix's research and development programs; Telix's ability to advance product candidates into, enrol and successfully complete, clinical studies, including multi-national clinical trials; the timing or likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals, manufacturing activities and product marketing activities; the commercialisation of Telix's product candidates, if or when they have been approved; estimates of Telix's expenses, future revenues and capital requirements; Telix's financial performance; developments relating to Telix's competitors and industry; and the pricing and reimbursement of Telix's product candidates, if and after they have been approved. Telix's actual results, performance or achievements may be materially different from those which may be expressed or implied by such statements, and the differences may be adverse. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. You should read this announcement together with our risk factors, as disclosed in our most recently filed reports with the ASX or on our website.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Telix disclaims any obligation or undertaking to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this announcement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or a change in expectations or assumptions.  

The Telix Pharmaceuticals and the Illuccix name and logo are trademarks of Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited and its affiliates – all rights reserved.