NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes LLC, a global innovator in the development, production and commercialization of radiopharmaceuticals used for therapeutic applications and medical imaging, has announced a significant expansion of its business platform with the formation of a new, patient-focused Radiopharmaceutical Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) services unit.
 
Based on the success of its diagnostic imaging and therapeutic radioisotope production programs, NorthStar has created the services unit to further advance development and commercialization of radiopharmaceuticals to treat patients who have cancer and other serious diseases. The CDMO will provide collaborator companies with a full range of customized radiopharmaceutical development and commercialization services, and serve NorthStar in progressing its own radiopharmaceutical programs.
 
Ground has been broken on a new facility, located alongside production facilities on the Company’s Beloit, Wis. campus. Upon completion, NorthStar will be the first and only U.S. company housing commercial-scale, multi-radioisotope production and radiopharmaceutical development services on the same campus, enabling collaborator companies to realize logistical, regulatory and cost benefits.
 
“Establishing this new radiopharmaceutical CDMO services unit at NorthStar marks an important inflection point in our growth plan to facilitate efficient patient supply of game-changing radiopharmaceuticals,” said Stephen Merrick, chief executive officer of NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes. “With our depth and breadth of technical knowledge in the development and production of medical radioisotopes, we are now expanding to help companies progress their own radiopharmaceutical development programs. NorthStar’s CDMO will enable us to share our radiopharmaceutical development and commercialization expertise with pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies that may require additional infrastructure, resources or the specialized knowledge required for complex radiopharmaceutical development, to help them develop and deliver products with the potential to improve care for even more patients with serious disease.”
 
“We are excited that NorthStar will be able to offer a full spectrum of radiopharmaceutical CDMO services to facilitate the radiopharmaceutical drug development process,” said Frank Scholz, Ph.D., president and chief operating officer of NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes. “We plan to collaborate with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to provide customized input and support across all phases of program development, from early stage through commercialization and product life cycle management. NorthStar’s radiopharmaceutical CDMO services will be customized to accommodate each customer’s needs and in compliance with rigorous regulations and attention to safety. They will include radionuclide procurement and formulation, dedicated suites for compounding and filling operations, quality assurance and quality control, analytical services, regulatory support, scale-up and commercialization activities and logistical support with packaging and shipping.”
 
Scholz continued, “NorthStar’s highly talented workforce possesses the specialized expertise to help support our radiopharmaceutical CDMO activities, and we plan to hire additional employees in association with this expansion. We have begun design, construction and fitting-out of clean rooms, laboratories and other required infrastructure for the dedicated 36,000 square foot facility, and expect that it should be available to deliver services in late 2024, pending appropriate licensure and regulatory approvals.”