Behind the science

1/Nuclear Medicine

Radiopharmaceuticals are now used regularly beyond nuclear medicine departments

For over seventy-five years, physicians practicing nuclear medicine have used radiopharmaceuticals to diagnose a wide variety of ailments, as well as treat some cancers, such as thyroid cancer using iodine-131. Scientists are now custom designing radiopharmaceuticals with modern, safer isotopes which enable radiopharmaceuticals to be used by other medical specialties in outpatient clinics, away from hospitals.

A powerful tool for physicians

Cardiologists and Oncologists are two medical specialties that have been using radiopharmaceuticals in their practices for many years. Cardiologists have used radiopharmaceuticals primarily as a diagnostic tool for cardiac conditions, while Oncologists currently use them for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

How POINT is expanding the reach of radiopharmaceuticals

We are focused on creating new radiopharmaceutical therapies by developing more effective targeting agents and combining them with isotopes that can be administered in outpatient settings.

2/ Medical Isotopes

Harnessing high-energy particles for the treatment of cancer

The source of radiopharmaceuticals’ power is unstable isotopes, also known as radioisotopes. A medical isotope is a radioisotope used in medicine for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes.

Icons for Lutetium, Fluorine, Actinium, Gallium

How POINT is using medical isotopes

We use a variety of medical isotopes, both manufactured in-house as well as sourced from external suppliers, to enable us to maintain a position at the forefront of radiopharmaceuticals.

We are focused on using the optimal medical isotope to create the most effective radiopharmaceutical product.

3/ Radioligands

The new generation of radiopharmaceuticals

Radioligands, also known as RLT or Radioligand Therapy, are modern radiopharmaceuticals currently in use to diagnose and treat cancers such as non-Hodgkins lymphoma, neuroendocrine tumours (NETs), and prostate cancer.

Radioligands are like microscopic, cancer-seeking missiles

There are three parts to a radioligand: the ligand, the medical isotope, and the linker. The ligand is a chemical compound that is designed to specifically bind to receptors overexpressed in tumors. The medical isotope emits high-energy particles that damage the DNA of the cells within the tumor leading to cell death. The linker attaches the medical isotope to the ligand, enabling the medical isotope to be delivered to the tumor.

The benefits of radioligands

Compared to chemotherapy, which is not a targeted therapy and can cause extensive damage to healthy tissue and organs, radioligands precisely deliver radiation to tumors, damaging the DNA of cells within the tumor while preserving surrounding tissues.

4/ Targeting FAP-α in the Tumor Microenvironment

Targeting cancer, smarter

The area around tumors, commonly referred to as the tumor microenvironment (TME), is a complex tissue framework including blood vessels, immune cells, signaling molecules and fibroblasts. We have multiple technologies under development to enable the use of one of these components - an enzyme called fibroblast activation protein alpha, or FAP-α, both as a target to deliver radiopharmaceuticals (PNT2004), as well as a catalyst to activate radiopharmaceuticals only once they reach a tumor’s microenvironment (CanSEEK™).

Safer: better

Toxicity caused by off-target delivery is a longstanding concern of cancer therapies. POINT’s CanSEEK™ technology aims to minimize toxicity caused by off-target delivery by only activating a radiopharmaceuticals' targeting moiety, such as its ligand after it has encountered FAP-α in the tumor microenvironment (TME).

The radiopharmaceutical is unable to bind to receptors on cells when its targeting moiety is disabled, thereby minimizing the toxicity caused by off-target delivery. When the radiopharmaceuticals enter the TME, its targeting moiety is activated, enabling it to once again bind to receptors on the cancer cells contained in the tumor.

The next frontier

CanSEEK™ has the potential to make treatments even more precise, expanding the therapeutic index, and also enabling the use of new, more powerful medical isotopes.

POINT's CanSEEK™ has been sub-licensed from both Bach Biosciences and Avacta Life Sciences, which has branded the technology as pre | CISION™ (an Avacta trademark).