The use of molecularly specific radiolabeled drugs to both detect and treat cancer – termed “theragnostics” – is experiencing unprecedented growth. However, only a few molecular targets are addressed by the handful of existing radiopharmaceuticals, and these treatments are not widely available.
A team of researchers, led by Katherine Ferrara, PhD, Division Chief of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS) and Professor of Radiology at Stanford Medicine, PI of Catalyst project Radiopharm, has been awarded an up to $35 million federal contract from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to innovate precision radiopharmaceutical imaging and therapy.
The Micro-Radiolabeling for Imaging and Therapy (MiRIT) research team includes scientists at Stanford University, the University of California, Los Angeles and DropletPharma Corp, bringing together leading experts in nuclear medicine, cancer diagnosis and therapy, protein design, radiopharmaceutical science and microscale technology.
A moonshot challenge addressed by MiRIT is to use computational techniques to design molecules that bind to disease-specific changes in proteins. This design process is enabled by artificial intelligence (AI), which promises to disrupt conventional drug design. “We have identified key cancer cell targets and, through collaboration with Possu Huang, PhD, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University, have designed and radiolabeled peptides against these targets. We will now expand the portfolio of targets and ligands and seek to translate the resulting drugs through the ARPA-H program,” said Ferrara.
The project will focus on ovarian and head and neck cancers, neither of which have screening tests despite premalignant lesions being common. “These are areas of great unmet needs where an immediate clinical impact is expected,” said Andrei Iagaru, MD, Division Chief of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging and Professor of Radiology at Stanford Medicine.
Further, MiRIT aims to reduce the costly and complex infrastructure required for these personalized treatments through miniaturized radiolabeling technology, making it possible to produce individual patient doses with high efficiency. “The resulting massive cost and resource reductions and simplified compliance with regulations will democratize radiopharmaceutical manufacturing,” said Michael van Dam, PhD, Vice Chair and Professor of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at UCLA, adding that “the ARPA-H program provides critical support to extend this technology to new imaging and therapeutic radionuclides and classes of molecules.”
DropletPharma CEO Clincy Cheung, PhD said, “This contract from ARPA-H will accelerate the discovery and translation of new theragnostic agents and ensure access throughout all parts of the United States and the world enabled by high-throughput radiochemistry experimentation and low-cost radiopharmaceutical distribution.”
Together, these efforts could broadly extend patient access to advanced radiopharmaceuticals. Such distribution of precise molecular imaging agents could also enable efforts to guide biopsy and surgery and select patient-specific chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
“Stanford Radiology has enthusiastically invested in our radiochemistry and cyclotron infrastructure for the translation of novel radiochemistry. With a history of 16 first-in-human studies over the past decade and 21 active nuclear medicine clinical trials, the human impact of radiopharmaceuticals is clear at Stanford,” remarked David Larson, MD, MBA, Executive Vice Chair of the Stanford Medicine Department of Radiology, adding “the ARPA-H program not only allows us to explore new frontiers in theragnostics and personalized medicine but also increase access to the developed technology to potentially impact millions of people.” Ultimately, the MiRIT project endeavors to establish a generalized platform to develop and deliver personalized molecular diagnostics and therapeutics for virtually any disease.
For more info, please the ARPA-H website: https://arpa-h.gov/research-and-funding/mission-office-iso/awardees
Full Research Team
Stanford University
Katherine Ferrara, Radiology, Principal Investigator
Corinne Beinat, Radiology
Oliver Dorigo, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Brooke Howitt, Pathology
Possu Huang, Bioengineering
Andrei Iagaru, Radiology
Quynh-Thu Le, Radiation Oncology
Jason Thanh Lee, Radiology
Farshad Moradi, Radiology
Guillem Pratx, Radiation Oncology
Mobeen Rahman, Pathology
Jai Woong Seo, Radiology
Hong Song, Radiology
UCLA
Michael van Dam, Molecular and Medical PharmacologyGiuseppe Carlucci, Molecular and Medical PharmacologyArion Chatziioannou, Molecular and Medical PharmacologyJohannes Czernin, Molecular and Medical PharmacologyChristine Mona, Molecular and Medical PharmacologySandra Orsulic, Obstetrics and GynecologyShili Xu, Molecular and Medical PharmacologyShaojun Zhu, Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
DropletPharma Corp
Clincy Cheung, Chief Executive OfficerJason Jones, Chief Technology Officer
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