NorthStar, QSA Global partner to secure Actinium-225 supply chain for cancer therapies

NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, a radiopharmaceutical company headquartered in Beloit, Wisconsin, and QSA Global, a radioactive source manufacturing and radiochemical services company based in Burlington, Massachusetts, have announced a multi-year strategic services agreement to strengthen the supply chain for Actinium-225, a radioactive isotope used in targeted alpha therapies for cancer treatment.

Under the agreement, QSA Global will process legacy Radium-226 — the starting material from which Ac-225 is produced — into high-purity target materials that feed into NorthStar’s continuous target capsule manufacturing. Following irradiation and processing by NorthStar to produce Ac-225, the recovered radium will be returned to QSA Global for recycling into new targets, establishing what the companies describe as a closed-loop supply chain designed to reduce dependence on external radium sources and improve supply reliability.

Targeted alpha therapies use radioactive isotopes attached to molecules that seek out and destroy cancer cells while limiting damage to surrounding healthy tissue. Ac-225 is among the most sought-after isotopes for this application, and securing a reliable supply of its starting material has become a key challenge for the industry as demand grows.

Frank Scholz, president and CEO of NorthStar, said in a statement the agreement strengthens the company’s supply chain with a reliable, high-quality source of Ra-226 targets critical to its Ac-225 production capabilities.

The partnership reflects broader capacity-building activity across the Ac-225 supply chain. As reported by Pharma Manufacturing this week, the radiopharmaceutical sector is approaching what analysts describe as an inflection point, with isotope producers and CDMOs scaling up specialized production infrastructure to meet growing clinical and commercial demand. The latest development involves Niowave, which broke ground on a $75 million Ac-225 production facility in Lansing, Michigan, that will begin operations in 2028.