GE HealthCare and BAMF Health, in Michigan, are cultivating a go-to-market approach that will accelerate awareness and adoption of theranostics as a clinical practice among U.S. providers, creating greater access to the dual diagnostic and therapeutic care regimen.

In theranostics, clinicians apply the same molecule or a pair of two different molecules to diagnose and treat patients for cancer consistently. In radiotheranostics, the same radionuclide or two different ones are used to image patients and then target and apply radiotherapy to eliminate the tumor based on the diagnostic data and without damaging healthy tissue. This creates a more personalized form of care. Examples of it include PLUVICTO (177Lu-PSMA-617) for prostate cancer and LUTATHERA (Lutetium Lu-177 dotatate) for neuroendocrine tumors.

Through their collaboration, GE HealthCare and BAMF Health will create a framework that bridges all phases of the theranostics care pathway, from drug development to disease diagnosis to treatment monitoring, and scale infrastructure and clinical solutions needed to make this care more accessible to patients. They also will form a network of partnerships with other providers and academic institutions in the U.S. and worldwide.

"Educating and collaborating between industry leaders, prestigious hospital systems, independent physician practices and academic medical institutions guides patients to our platform to receive lifesaving care that they might otherwise not know about or have access to. Educating patients and their caregivers on the benefits of using Theranostics for complex medical diagnoses is critical for its widespread adoption," Matt DeLong, Pharm.D., vice president of radiopharmacy at BAMF Health, told HCB News.

According to BAMF Health, the partnership will drive opportunities to apply theranostics to care outside of cancer, including for Alzheimer's disease.

But being able to do this requires access to advanced imaging technologies, building advanced infrastructure, data management systems, a platform for educating patients and caregivers, modern regulatory frameworks for radiopharmaceutical manufacturing and administering radioligand therapies, and best practices for materials management. These are all necessary for clinicians to identify patients who would benefit from this form of care and know the volume who require it, to optimize the manufacturing of diagnostic isotopes with short-lived half-lives.

GE HealthCare produces much of the infrastructure required for theranostics, including cyclotrons, chemistry synthesis, pharmaceutical diagnostics, PET/CT, PET/MR, SPECT/CT, and advanced oncology and digital solutions.

BAMF Health will provide a platform designed to accelerate and scale theranostics affordably, accounting for radiopharmaceutical manufacturing, molecular imaging, molecular therapy, and a robust clinical trials program, whose operations are supported by a technology platform that is inclusive of software and AI.

The Grand Rapids cancer care provider was established specifically to scale access to molecular medicine and theranostics, and opened its theranostics center last summer, which includes Michigan’s first total-body scanner.

"Collaborating with industry complementors would facilitate knowledge sharing and standardization, yielding lower costs across the board. Empowering patients with the knowledge needed to make informed decisions about theranostics will increase acceptance and demand for these services," Dr. Anthony Chang, founder and CEO BAMF Health, told HCB News.

GE HealthCare is partnering with several companies and healthcare providers in theranostics care. It recently announced a collaboration with SOFIE Biosciences to develop investigational Gallium-68 and Fluorine-18 diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals for this type of care in clinical trials and then obtain regulatory approvals for selling them in various areas.

It also this summer partnered with teaching hospital St. Joseph’s Health Care London, in Ontario, and its research component, the Lawson Health Research Institute, to establish Canada’s first Centre of Excellence for Molecular Imaging and Theranostics (MIT), which will set the foundation for future theranostic centers in the country and foster more partnerships.