Medical isotope firm Shine Medical Technologies has secured $50m in financing from funds managed by US-based global investment firm Oaktree Capital Management.
The funds will support Shine’s ongoing construction of a new medical isotope production facility in Janesville, Wisconsin in the US, and its commercialisation of the diagnostic and therapeutic isotopes, including molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) and lutetium-177 (Lu-177).
Shine founder and CEO Greg Piefer said: “We are excited to welcome Oaktree to SHINE’s growing list of top-tier institutional investors. Oaktree has broad expertise in complex infrastructure projects like our medical isotope facility. It joins Deerfield Management, a leading health care investment firm, as one of our key partners.
“Oaktree and Deerfield will help us deliver on SHINE’s value proposition, including the completion of our isotope production facility and the development of our therapeutics business. Their participation validates the strength of our business case, team and vision for bringing our lifesaving products to market.”
Shine’s production facility is scheduled for opening in 2021
Planned for completion in 2021, Shine’s production facility will utilise the company’s patented technology to produce Mo-99. Construction on the facility commenced in May 2019.
Upon completion, the facility will feature eight of the firm’s accelerator-based medical isotope production systems, which can produce more than one-third of global demand for the Mo-99.
Commercial-scale isotope production is planned to commence in 2022.
Oaktree managing director Milwood Hobbs Jr said: “The need for SHINE’s medical isotope production facility is profound, as millions of patients are affected each year by the ongoing shortage of Mo-99.
“Oaktree is confident SHINE will play a major role in ending that shortage and we are pleased to support SHINE’s production facility construction.”
Additionally, Shine has plans to commercialise Lu-177, a therapeutic isotope used to treat neuroendocrine cancers and has the potential to treat metastatic prostate and other cancers.
In May 2019, Shine signed an agreement with the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS (IOCB Prague). The agreement provides Shine with an exclusive license to a novel separation technology for the production of non-carrier-added Lu-177.
Oaktree senior vice president Aman Kumar said: “Oaktree is pleased to be a partner with SHINE as it executes a growth strategy that includes commercialising therapeutic isotopes and constructing a production facility in Europe.”
