Radioligand therapy company Orano Med announced a $5 million, 11,000-square-foot expansion of its main research and development center in Plano, Texas, which is focused on developing novel radiopharmaceuticals and conducting preclinical research.
The Plano site is home to the R&D teams of Orano Med and its subsidiary Macrocyclics, a manufacturer of customized chelating agents. In total, the expansion has increased the center’s space by 50% compared to the pre-existing facility.
Around 5,000 square feet of the expansion includes new laboratory space to advance a growing pipeline and doubling of its Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) production capacity for early clinical trial supply. Orano Med has also added 5,500 square feet of new office space to accommodate its team, whose headcount has doubled over the past four years, according to the announcement.
Orano Med’s preclinical research is focused on targeted alpha therapies using lead-212 (212Pb), a promising approach for targeting various types of cancer. While the primary mission of the R&D center is therapeutic development, the facility also serves as production hub for lead-212 based drug candidates for early-stage clinical trials in the U.S.
“The expansion of our R&D center enhances our ability to develop lead-212-based radioligand therapies by giving our teams the resources they need to advance a growing pipeline of drug candidates through to the clinic,” Julien Torgue, chief scientific officer at Orano Med, said in a statement.
In addition to its in-house research programs, Orano Med collaborates with biotech and pharmaceutical companies and conducts the full range of preclinical development studies onsite, including in vivo and Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) studies.
Orano Med, RadioMedix, and Sanofi last year signed an exclusive licensing agreement to develop AlphaMedix, a next-generation radioligand medicine targeting rare cancers.