LOS ANGELES and RADEBERG, Germany, Oct. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Sofie Biosciences, Inc. (SOFIE), a Theranostics company, announced today it has executed a strategic collaboration with ABX Advanced Biochemical Compounds GmbH (ABX), a worldwide leading supplier of PET precursors and FDG reagents kits, to provide cGMP precursor and reference standards for the radiochemical synthesis and quality control of its lead FAPI compounds.
The collaboration will ensure SOFIE and their partners have a seamless supply of cGMP precursor and reference standards as of Q1 2020, to facilitate ongoing clinical development of the FAPI theranostic compounds.
Mr. Philipp Czernin, SOFIE’s Chief Revenue Officer commented: “On the heels of signing an exclusive license agreement for FAPI, its Journal Image of the Year award, and the increasing interest in utilizing this compound since these announcements – all underscoring the value of FAPI in the scientific and medical community – we know it’s critical to select strong relationships to facilitate its use. ABX’s extensive experience manufacturing and supplying precursors for the PET community provides us with the confidence that we’ll able to meet the needs of our partners and ourselves.”
Alex Hoepping, ABX’s Head of Medicinal Chemistry commented: “We are proud that SOFIE has chosen ABX as partner for the cGMP production of these exciting new FAPI compounds.”
To learn more about the supply of FAPI cGMP precursors, please send inquiries to FAPI-inquiry@sofie.com.
About SOFIE
The early vision for molecular imaging was to revolutionize clinical diagnostics and therapeutics to better understand and treat the biology of disease. SOFIE brings that vision to life by increasing the adoption and application diversity of theranostics by removing the cost and complexity traditionally associated with the technology. With a full line of imaging and radiochemistry systems and a premier radiopharmacy network and contract manufacturing organization to supply novel agents for diagnosis and therapy, SOFIE is dedicated to improving patient health. For more information, please visit https://sofie.com or contact info@sofie.com
About ABX
ABX is active in manufacturing and development of cGMP chemicals for nuclear medicine and owns one of the first approved and fully automated industrial-scale production facilities for radioactive theranostics with its own sterile testing. For more information, please visit http://www.abx.de.
About FAPI
The tumor stroma is increasingly recognized as a major therapeutic target in cancer. It makes up more than 90% of the tumor mass, protects tumors cells from an immune response, and provides a physical barrier that hinders drug uptake into tumor cells. Cancer Associated Fibroblasts (CAFs) are the subpopulation of tumor stromal cells that are responsible for this immune evasion and chemotherapy resistance, and are present in more than 90% of epithelial carcinomas, including pancreatic, colon, breast cancer, and other non-epithelial carcinomas. Fibroblast activating protein (FAP) is a protein over-expressed in CAFs and represents a key, cancer-specific therapeutic target as they are absent in healthy tissue. Small molecule inhibitors of FAP (FAPI) can be labeled alternatively with different radioisotopes; those for diagnostic imaging to identify patients whose tumors contain CAFs with high expression of FAP and those for radiotherapeutic treatment of these patients.