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Targeted Alpha Therapy

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What is Targeted Alpha Therapy (TAT)?

Targeted Alpha Therapy (TAT) is a next-generation cancer treatment that combines nuclear physics with molecular biology to precisely destroy cancer cells from the inside while minimising damage to healthy tissue. This makes it particularly powerful at treating metastatic cancer since the radiation is short-range but potent.

By fusing radioactive atoms with targeting molecules, TAT creates a highly powerful and focused therapy for patients.
 

Clinical results worldwide have shown strong responses in patients who have failed conventional treatments.

TAT, theoretically, could be used against almost any cancer type. The limiting factor isn’t the radiation, but the biology. It is currently being used to treat various conditions, including:

  • Prostate Cancer

  • Neuroendocrine Tumours

  • Leukemia

  • Brain Tumours

  • Ovarian and other solid tumours

Image by National Cancer Institute
Image by Clark Van Der Beken

How it works

Targeted Alpha Therapy uses three key components:

1. Targeting Molecule:
A biological molecule (often an antibody or small ligand) is designed to:

  • Recognise a specific marker found mainly on cancer cells

  • Travel through the bloodstream

  • Bind directly to tumour cells
     

Think of this as the “guided delivery system.”

2. Radioactive Payload:

The targeting molecule is attached to a tiny amount of a radioactive isotope, commonly actinium-225 (Ac-225).
 

Ac-225 emits alpha particles, which are:

  • Extremely high energy

  • Very short range (only a few cell diameters)
     

This means the radiation is devastating to the cancer cell it hits, but does not travel far enough to significantly harm surrounding healthy tissue.

3. Cancer Cell Destruction:
Once the drug binds to a cancer cell:

  • The radioactive atom decays

  • Alpha particles are emitted

  • The cell’s DNA is shattered 

  • The cancer cell dies
     

A single alpha emission can be lethal to a cancer cell through double DNA breakage.

Our Role

Targeted Alpha Therapy is one of the most powerful new approaches in cancer treatment, but its growth is limited by one critical factor:


There is not enough actinium-225 (Ac-225) available in the world.
 

Our mission is to help remove that bottleneck.

Solving the Supply Problem

Ac-225 is extremely difficult to produce. Traditional supply methods:
 

  • Are limited in scale

  • Depend on aging nuclear infrastructure

  • Cannot meet the rapidly growing global demand for TAT medicines
     

This supply shortage is now one of the biggest barriers to expanding life-saving alpha therapies to more patients.

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