NorthStar secures up to $185 million for cancer-isotope production

NorthStar Medical Technologies produces radioactive isotopes and helps drugmakers turn them into medicines for cancer. The Beloit, Wisconsin, company announced a multi-year growth-capital facility of up to $185 million from Hercules Capital, including $100 million upfront, to expand both isotope output and clinical and commercial drug manufacturing.

The immediate focus is actinium-225, an alpha-emitting isotope that can be attached to antibodies, peptides or small molecules. Those targeting molecules are designed to carry the isotope to diseased cells, where it delivers highly localized radiation. NorthStar supplies the isotope to pharmaceutical and biotechnology developers and also performs contract development and manufacturing work intended to move radiopharmaceuticals from research through commercial production.

Both parts of the business sit on NorthStar’s campus. Its manufacturing service can handle formulation, process development, batch scale-up, packaging, labeling and shipping, while isotope can come from NorthStar’s own production or outside suppliers. NorthStar says putting production and drug manufacturing at one site can lower customers’ logistical, regulatory and cost burdens.

NorthStar said in January that it was routinely producing no-carrier-added actinium-225 at commercial scale, in weekly millicurie-level batches, using electron accelerators. It plans to activate a higher-capacity line later in 2026. The company says it has supply and manufacturing agreements with more than 30 pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers, including several of the largest developers of actinium-225 therapies.

The structure matters: NorthStar receives $100 million upfront, while the other $85 million remains available under a multi-year facility. The announcement did not disclose the draw conditions, pricing or maturity, so the $185 million headline should not be read as cash received on day one.

NorthStar has also said the FDA accepted its Drug Master File for actinium-225. That file can let partner drug developers reference confidential information about NorthStar’s manufacturing in their own regulatory submissions. It is not FDA approval of the isotope or any treatment; the agency says Drug Master Files are reviewed only with the applications that cite them.