CNL collaborating on research projects with leading Canadian healthcare biotech companies

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Canada’s national nuclear laboratories announces new projects with leading Canadian biopharmaceutical companies through collaborative research program 

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CHALK RIVER — Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) is collaborating with two leading Canadian healthcare biotech companies — Repare Therapeutics and Defence Therapeutics — on individual research projects through its Canadian Nuclear Research Initiative — Health (CNRI-H) program. Launched in 2021, the CNRI-H program is designed to accelerate the development of targeted radiopharmaceuticals in Canada through joint research projects related to oncology, targeted alpha therapy, radiopharmaceuticals and medical isotope development. 

 Repare and CNL plan to leverage the strengths of both organizations which cut across radiobiology, preclinical evaluation, and the discovery of therapeutics that kill cancer cells by stopping the repair of DNA in cancer cells. This work will potentially generate more insight into repair mechanisms associated with radiation induced damage in DNA of cancer cells and hopefully lead to the development of therapeutics that can significantly enhance current radioligand therapies in cancer treatment for the benefit of Canadians and the world. 

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CNL’s project with Defence Therapeutics leverages the capabilities at CNL to advance Defence’s Accum Technology to deliver auger electron (AE) emitting isotopes as close to the nucleus as possible. Research has already shown that delivering AE-emitting isotopes to the nucleus can deliver significant damage to cancer cells. Successful deployment of this project’s delivery system could unlock the full potential of AEs in cancer treatment. 

“On behalf of CNL, I want to express just how excited we are to enter into these new projects with two innovative Canadian companies that are working to help improve the lives of people who suffer from cancers and other diseases,” said Jack Craig, CNL’s president and CEO. “CNL launched CNRI-H to provide radiopharmaceutical companies with better access to our technical knowledge and unique facilities so they could advance their innovative treatments and therapies. With these two exciting projects now underway, this program fills an unmet need within the radiopharmaceutical community, and we are excited for what the future holds with both Defence Therapeutics and Repare Therapeutics.” 

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“Collaborating with CNL in the CNRI-H program advances the potential for our DNA damage response-targeted therapeutics to enhance radiopharmaceutical efficacy,” said Stephen Morris, vice president of Biology, Repare Therapeutics. “By leveraging the world-leading expertise of CNL, we aim to accelerate our mission of developing innovative medicines to provide meaningful benefit to cancer patients.” 

Sebastien Plouffe, Defence Therapeutics’ founder, president and CEO, said the company’s mission is to develop targeted radiopharmaceutical therapies using its proprietary Accum platform. 

“We are extremely proud and honored to collaborate with CNL as their strong expertise and know how will reinforce and accelerate the feasibility of our innovative treatment for future benefits of cancer patients. I would like to thank each of the CNL team members for their dedicated, collaborative and proactive approach to efficiently work together to advance our project. The CNRI-H program is well designed to accelerate radiopharmaceuticals companies like Defence Therapeutics to reach its ultimate goal to bring innovative therapies into the market,” Plouffe said. 

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As Canada’s national nuclear laboratories, CNL maintains diverse capabilities in areas of health and dosimetry, including pre-clinical animal studies, isotope production and processing, in vitro drug evaluation, targeted radionuclide therapies, ISO-accredited analytical chemistry services and waste management solutions. CNL is also working to establish itself as an international hub in the research, development and supply of next-generation medical isotopes and radiopharmaceuticals, including Actinium-225, an extremely rare isotope that shows great promise as the basis for new, cutting-edge cancer therapies. 

“As Canada’s national nuclear laboratories, CNL has been a pioneer in radiopharmaceutical research for decades, and we are making our technical expertise and unique capabilities available to accelerate the development of innovative solutions in the Radiopharmaceutical industry that benefit Canadians and the global community,” said George Baidoo, CNL’s technical director of Health in Business Development. “Working towards that goal, these two projects represent great progress in the evolution of our CNRI-H program and are important milestones in bringing innovative new therapies and treatments to the marketplace.” 

For more information on CNL’s CNRI-H program, visit: www.cnl.ca/CNRI-H. For additional information on CNL and its activities in the health sector, visit www.cnl.ca. 

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