radioligand-therapy
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Andreas Goutopoulos Raised $75.5M for a Company That Was, on Paper, Just Him
He led chemistry at a big pharma for a decade, then walked out to build a radiopharma startup with no executive team and a single conviction: make the molecules stick.
Novartis Cut Away an Empire to Bet on Five Ways of Making Medicine
The Swiss giant spent years shedding businesses until only innovative medicines remained. Now its growth depends on turning five scientific platforms into treatments that health systems will pay for - and patients can actually reach.
Actithera
Actithera is a radiopharmaceutical biotech developing next-generation radioligand therapies (RLTs) for cancer. Founded in 2021 by medicinal chemist Andreas Goutopoulos and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Oslo, Norway, the company uses a proprietary, chemistry-led platform to design covalent small-molecule radioligands that lodge inside tumors, deliver targeted radiation, and clear quickly from healthy tissue. Its isotope-agnostic approach is engineered to match the residence time of a drug in a tumor to the half-life of long-lived radionuclides, with a lead program targeting Fibroblast Activation Protein (FAP). Actithera raised an oversubscribed $75.5M Series A in July 2025.
Alpha-9 Oncology
Alpha-9 Oncology is a clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company engineering bespoke, tumor-targeting molecules that deliver alpha- and beta-emitting isotopes directly to cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. Spun out of the University of British Columbia and BC Cancer in 2019 and now headquartered in Boston with research operations in Vancouver, the company iteratively optimizes each part of a radiopharmaceutical - binder, linker, chelator and radioisotope - to build a pipeline of paired imaging and therapy candidates. Backed by $258M in total funding, including a $175M Series C in 2024, Alpha-9 aims to expand precision radiotherapy across validated oncology targets.
Jack Hoppin
Jack Hoppin is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Ratio Therapeutics, a Boston-based biotech developing targeted radiopharmaceuticals for cancer. A mathematician by training with a PhD in applied mathematics, he previously co-founded the molecular imaging company Invicro and led Konica Minolta Precision Medicine. At Ratio he pairs with scientific co-founder John Babich to build fit-for-purpose radioligand therapies on the company's Trillium pharmacokinetic-modulation and Macropa chelation platforms, backed by investors including Bristol Myers Squibb and a partnership with Novartis.
Convergent Therapeutics, Inc.
Convergent Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company in Cambridge, Massachusetts developing next-generation targeted radiotherapies for cancer. Its lead candidate, CONV01-α, is a PSMA-targeted monoclonal antibody linked to the alpha-emitting radioisotope actinium-225, designed to deliver tumor-killing radiation to metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer while sparing healthy tissue. The technology, pioneered in the lab of PSMA-targeting pioneer Dr. Neil Bander and licensed from Cornell University, is led by oncologist Dr. Philip Kantoff.
AdvanCell
AdvanCell is a vertically integrated, clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of targeted alpha therapies (TAT) for cancer, powered by its proprietary Lead-212 (212Pb) alpha isotope generator technology. By solving the chronic supply bottleneck of alpha-emitting isotopes, AdvanCell aims to deliver highly potent, tumor-specific radiation that destroys cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. Its lead asset, ADVC001, a 212Pb-PSMA therapy, is in clinical trials for metastatic prostate cancer, with a deepening pipeline targeting melanoma, ovarian, breast, and lung cancers.
Philip Kantoff
Philip Kantoff is a medical oncologist who spent three decades shaping how the world treats prostate cancer, then walked away from running medicine at one of the country's largest cancer hospitals to start a company. As co-founder and CEO of Convergent Therapeutics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he is developing CONV01-alpha, an alpha-emitting radioantibody that hunts down prostate tumor cells and irradiates them at close range. He has published more than 500 papers, been cited over 85,000 times, mentored a generation of oncology leaders, and at an age when most peers retire, raised $90 million in Series A funding to bring a new class of cancer therapy into the clinic.
Ratio Therapeutics
Ratio Therapeutics is a Boston-based clinical-stage biotech engineering next-generation targeted radiopharmaceuticals for solid tumors. Its proprietary Trillium and Macropa platforms tune how radioactive cancer-killing payloads travel through the body, aiming to deliver a lethal dose to tumors while sparing healthy tissue. Backed by major pharma partners including Novartis, Bayer, Lantheus and Bristol Myers Squibb, Ratio is advancing FAP- and SSTR2-targeted programs from imaging into therapy.
Bill Cupelo
Bill Cupelo is the Chief Business Officer of Ratio Therapeutics, a Boston-based biotech building targeted radiopharmaceuticals that aim to both image and treat cancer. A chemist by training who learned to sell science, he spent more than a decade at imaging CRO Invicro, climbing from software product manager to head of sales, before bringing his sponsor-side, science-first mindset to Ratio's pipeline of alpha-emitting radioligand therapies. He also serves as Treasurer of the Massachusetts Nuclear Medicine & Radiopharmaceutical Council.