For his part, Arnaud Lesegretain, new general director of Orano Med, the nuclear medicine subsidiary, welcomed “the realization of 18 years of research and innovation, and the start of an industrial adventure» with this “flagship» dedicated to supplying raw materials to the manufacturing units of Orano Med’s future anti-cancer treatments. The result is the creation of 70 direct jobs during commissioning scheduled for 2027.
This unique plant will extract thorium 228, a precursor isotope of lead 212, the active agent on which Orano Med bases its innovative alphatherapy treatments which target cancers. Associated with a biological vector, this lead 212 makes it possible to irradiate cancer cells directly into the body with less toxicity than radiotherapy which damages healthy tissues near tumors. Among the pioneers and most advanced players in alphatherapy, Orano Med has a first treatment in advanced development, AlphaMedix, with phase III clinical trials planned to start in 2025, and recently welcomed Sanofi in its capital, to the tune of 300 million euros, to accelerate its activities.
A factory to supply thorium 228 to those of Orano Med manufacturing lead treatments 212
Currently named ATEF (Advanced thorium extraction facility), this 7,000m2 plant will produce small vials of thorium 228, which will be shipped to the two Orano Med formulation units: the one inaugurated this summer near Indianapolis in the United States and the one under construction in Onnaing near Valenciennes (North). These two units will be responsible for obtaining lead 212 from thorium 228. The interest of this chain lies in the “half-life” of these isotopes. Thorium 228 only loses half of its radioactivity in two years, while lead 212 only has around ten hours. An advantage for limiting radiation in the body but a disadvantage for the treatment which must be very quickly shipped and injected, hence this industrial plan with a large factory upstream and two units in direct proximity to major logistics hubs in Europe and in North America. Other units of this type are already being considered by Orano Med, depending on the development of its treatments for better geographical coverage.
In 10 years, the thorium 228 extraction plant will be capable of providing enough to produce 100,000 doses per year. “The site has a modular design which will allow the number of lines to be gradually increased, but the factory will initially, in 2027, be sized to manufacture around 50,000 doses in a full year.», Specifies Julien Dodet, chairman of the governance board of Orano Med. In the meantime, the group relies for the production needs of clinical trials on its Maurice Tubiana laboratory, located on the same site in Bessines-sur-Gartempe and which has fully developed the industrial process as well as the activity of Orano Med .
Resources considered unlimited to power the future Orano Med factory
For the power supply of the future factory, Orano mentions almost unlimited resources. The group holds, on a CEA site in Cadarache (Bouches-du-Rhône), a stock of 22,000 drums of thorium 232, a legacy of its former mining activities in Madagascar. It is also with the desire to diversify its activities and the valorization of certain isotopes in its stocks that the group launched into nuclear medicine. According to Nicolas Maes, general manager of Orano, the quantity of thorium 228 extracted from thorium 232 is extremely low, “like a drop of water in an Olympic swimming pool“. And once extracted, it is naturally reconstituted into thorium 232 in around ten years.
Orano Med will have total integration for the production of its oncology drugs
Like all Orano projects worth more than 20 million euros, that of the factory will be developed as part of an eco-design approach, with as minimal an environmental impact as possible. Without detailing, Julien Dodet assures of a “process which is not very energy-intensive, the energy required being mainly necessary for ventilation and air conditioning processes».
With this factory, and in addition to research and clinical development, Orano Med will have full industrial integration for the production of its current and future alphatherapy treatments. Control of the entire industrial chain is considered essential for internal vectorized radiotherapies, of which alphatherapy is a part. For actors who do not control everything, “it is a limiting factor in the development of treatments», Estimates Nicolas Maes. On the other hand, marketing and distribution will be managed by Sanofi, already armed with pharmaceutical distribution channels and expertise.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
