SK Biopharm secures Actinium-225 supply in Europe with Eckert & Ziegler deal

(SK Biopharmaceuticals)

SK Biopharmaceuticals said Wednesday it has signed a supply agreement with Germany’s Eckert & Ziegler, a leading radioisotope company, to procure Actinium-225 — a critical material used in next-generation cancer therapies.

The deal establishes a European supply base for the company’s radiopharmaceutical pipeline, helping secure access to a resource considered essential for successful drug development.

Actinium-225 is a key isotope used in radiopharmaceutical therapy, a targeted treatment that delivers radioactive payloads directly to cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissue. Global production of the isotope remains limited, making supply stability a decisive competitive factor.

The agreement marks a strategic expansion for SK Biopharmaceuticals, which until now has relied largely on North American sourcing. By adding Eckert & Ziegler to a roster that already includes US-based TerraPower Isotopes and Belgium’s Pantera, the company says it has built a “multilayered” supply network designed to withstand market volatility.

“Stabilizing the supply of Actinium is a prerequisite for successful new drug development,” SK Biopharmaceuticals CEO Lee Dong-hoon said in a statement. “We will aggressively target the global anticancer market based on our preemptive partnerships and diversified supply chain.”

With the expanded supply network in place, the company plans to accelerate RPT research. It is preparing to enter clinical trials for SKL35501, a small-molecule cancer therapy licensed from Full-Life Technologies, and recently broadened its portfolio by acquiring a second candidate, WT-7695, from the University of Wisconsin.