Algeta ASA
ALGETA:NO
was founded in 1997 by Roy H. Larsen and Øyvind S. Bruland in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

as a private

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

and

pharmaceutical company The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate sympto ...

. The company’s research and development focus lies in the field of

alpha-particle Alpha particles, also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium-4 nucleus. They are generally produced in the process of alpha decay, but may also be produce ...

emitting

radiopharmaceuticals Radiopharmaceuticals, or medicinal radiocompounds, are a group of pharmaceutical drugs containing radioactive isotopes. Radiopharmaceuticals can be used as diagnostic and therapeutic agents. Radiopharmaceuticals emit radiation themselves, which is ...

. The lead product of the company, Xofigo is the first marketed alpha-particle emitting radiopharmaceutics for cancer treatment.

Early fund raising

Algeta raised its series A financing round in 2005 with a total amount of €23 million. The financing round was led by new investors

HealthCap HealthCap is a specialized provider of venture capital within life sciences. HealthCap invests in innovative companies with focus on therapeutics. As of 2017, HealthCap has invested in over 100 companies since inception and completed initial public ...

, Advent Venture and SR One.

Public offering

In March 2007, the company went public and traded in the

Oslo Stock Exchange Oslo Stock Exchange ( no, Oslo Børs) (OSE: OSLO) is a stock exchange within the Nordic countries and offers Norway’s only regulated markets for securities trading today. The stock exchange offers a full product range including equities, deriv ...

under the ticker symbol ''ALGETA'' and raised $41 million.

Xofigo

Algeta’s lead product

Xofigo Radium-223 (223Ra, Ra-223) is an isotope of radium with an 11.4-day half-life. It was discovered in 1905 by T. Godlewski, a Polish chemist from Kraków, and was historically known as actinium X (AcX). Radium-223 dichloride is an alpha particle- ...

(radium Ra 223 dichloride,

radium-223 Radium-223 (223Ra, Ra-223) is an Isotopes of radium#Radium-223, isotope of radium with an 11.4-day half-life. It was discovered in 1905 by T. Godlewski, a Polish chemist from Kraków, and was historically known as Decay chain#Actinium series, ac ...

, previously called Alpharadin) is a radiotherapeutic drug which is supplied as injectable sterile solution. The active ingredient alpha particle emitting isotope radium-223 mimics

calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...

and forms complexes with

hydroxyapatite Hydroxyapatite, also called hydroxylapatite (HA), is a naturally occurring mineral form of calcium apatite with the formula Ca5(PO4)3(OH), but it is usually written Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2 to denote that the crystal unit cell comprises two entities. ...

at areas where increased bone turnover takes place, such as cancer bone metastasis. The product received U.S.

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

(FDA) and

European Medicines Agency The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) in charge of the evaluation and supervision of medicinal products. Prior to 2004, it was known as the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products or Euro ...

(EMA) approval in May 2013 and November 2013, respectively, to treat castration-resistant

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

, symptomatic

bone metastases Bone metastasis, or osseous metastatic disease, is a category of cancer metastases that results from primary tumor invasion to bone. Bone-originating primary tumors such as osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, and Ewing's sarcoma are rare; the most common ...

and unknown visceral metastatic disease. The FDA approval was based on a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled phase III

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, dietar ...

of 809 patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and symptomatic bone metastases. The trial was designed to measure

overall survival Survival rate is a part of survival analysis. It is the proportion of people in a study or treatment group still alive at a given period of time after diagnosis. It is a method of describing prognosis in certain disease conditions, and can be use ...

. Interim analysis revealed 14 months median overall survival in the Xofigo group as compared to 11.2 months in the placebo group. The data were later confirmed by updated exploratory analysis showing Xofigo improved overall survival.

Algeta Bayer deals

In September 2009, Algeta and

Bayer AG Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of business include pharmaceutica ...

anchored a development and commercialization deal for Xofigo with the total deal size of $800 million. In December 2013, Bayer offered a full acquisition of Algeta for $2.9 billion. The largest shareholder

pre-approved the deal which was completed in March 2014.

References

{{Authority control Pharmaceutical companies of Norway Pharmaceutical companies established in 1997 Biotechnology companies of Norway Biotechnology companies established in 1997 1997 establishments in Norway