Benzinga | Oct 18, 2021 04:01PM EDT

Radionetics Oncology Emerges From Crinetics Pharmaceuticals With A Platform And Deep Pipeline Of Nonpeptide Targeted Radiopharmaceutical Drug Candidates For Precision Oncology

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRNX), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel nonpeptide therapeutics for rare endocrine diseases and endocrine-related tumors, together with 5AM Ventures and Frazier Healthcare Partners, today announced the formation of an independently operated new company, Radionetics Oncology. Radionetics aims to develop a deep pipeline of novel, targeted, nonpeptide radiopharmaceuticals for the treatment of a broad range of oncology indications.

Radionetics' pipeline is based on a broadly enabling platform and intellectual property that will leverage more than a decade of discovery experience within Crinetics. The platform uses nonpeptides as targeting agents designed to deliver therapeutically active radiopharmaceuticals to tumors expressing unique peptide receptors. Radionetics' initial drug development efforts will center on advancing a collection of 10 potent nonpeptide-targeted radiopharmaceutical candidates and leads, discovered at Crinetics, into clinical imaging and efficacy studies. Radionetics will work independently and with Crinetics to identify additional novel radiopharmaceutical targets and drug candidates for a range of cancer indications.

David Allison, Ph.D., a partner at 5AM Ventures and member of the Radionetics board of directors commented, "Radiopharmaceuticals have emerged as an important class of oncology therapeutics demonstrating survival benefits for patients in multiple tumor settings including prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumors. We are launching Radionetics with what we believe to be a promising pipeline to expand the utility of radiopharmaceuticals to novel targets. We look forward to building on Crinetics' world-class expertise in discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics targeting peptide receptors for the benefit of cancer patients."

In conjunction with formation of the company, Radionetics will receive an exclusive world-wide license to the radiotherapeutics technology platform and associated intellectual property from Crinetics for use in developing radiotherapeutics and related radio-imaging agents in exchange for equity, milestones in excess of $1 billion and single-digit royalties on net sales. Radionetics launches with a $30 million private financing with 5AM Ventures and Frazier Healthcare Partners as the sole investors. Radionetics and Crinetics will also engage in a research collaboration to identify drug candidates for multiple additional targets.

"Peptide receptors are a uniquely attractive family of drug targets for precision radiotherapeutics, with more than 120 different family members, many of which are over-expressed in hard-to-treat solid tumors. We are very excited to expand Crinetics' nonpeptide therapeutics platform into the realm of radiopharmaceuticals with the formation of Radionetics," said Scott Struthers, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Crinetics. "With the launch of Radionetics, Crinetics shareholders will continue to participate in the value of these assets through Crinetics' equity ownership in the new company as well as through potential milestones and future royalty streams, while at the same time giving the platform the dedicated attention and financing it deserves to fully realize its potential to help the many people around the world in need of new options to treat their cancers." Dr. Struthers has spent his entire scientific and business career seeking to better understand peptide hormone receptors and how to target them with novel therapeutics. As the founder and CEO of Crinetics, he has successfully led and grown the company from a four-person boot-strapped startup to a publicly traded company with multiple clinical stage programs. Dr. Struthers will serve as chairman of the Radionetics board of directors.