A multi-billion-dollar acquisition within the radiopharmaceutical space could be percolating as Lantheus Holding considers a buyout offer from Curium Pharma, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
Curium’s proposal values Massachusetts-based Lantheus at about $7 billion, the news outlet said, citing people familiar with the matter. The deal could be weeks away, but a final discussion has not yet been made and no agreement is guaranteed, according to Bloomberg.
Lantheus does “not comment on market rumors or speculation” as a matter of policy, a spokesperson told Fierce Pharma on Tuesday.
For its part, Curium “operates in a highly competitive environment and, like all companies, is always evaluating organic and external pathways to better serve our patients and customers,” a company representative said in an emailed statement. At the same time, the representative also caveated to Fierce that Curium “does not comment on market rumors or speculation.”
Last year, Curium had a hand in what was the “largest transaction in nuclear medicine globally” when its majority owner, global investment firm CapVest, raised money to recapitalize Curium through a new continuation vehicle that similarly valued the radiopharmaceutical company at $7 billion. The investor base that chipped in reflected a “strong belief in the future trajectory of the company in a market poised for exponential growth in the next 15 years,” Curium said at the time.
Lantheus, meanwhile, has recently been on the other side of the dealmaking table with an acquisition spree of its own.
Early last year, the radiopharmaceutical specialist shelled out $250 million in upfront cash to take on Evergreen Theragnostics, committing up to $752.5 million in additional potential milestone payments. The union of Evergreen’s manufacturing capabilities and infrastructure with Lantheus’ radiopharmaceutical digs was meant to help the company “meet the complex demands of radiopharmaceutical development and production,” Lantheus said, and it also adds new candidates to the company's oncology diagnostic pipeline.
Other recent acquisitions for Lantheus include Meilleur Technologies and its Alzheimer’s disease PET imaging agent, plus Life Molecular Imaging and its approved F-18 PET imaging agent Neuraceq, along with broader Alzheimer’s radiodiagnostic commercial infrastructure.
While being “disciplined in our capital deployment” and prioritizing radiodiagnostics while weighing the “best path to maximize value from our radiotherapeutic assets,” Lantheus is looking to “lay the groundwork for growth acceleration beginning in 2027,” interim CEO Mary Anne Heino said in the company’s first quarter earnings release. The radiopharma reported $377.3 million in worldwide revenues over the first quarter of 2026, backed largely by Neuraceq, the ultrasound-enhancing agent Definity and the prostate cancer diagnostic imaging agent Pylarify.
Meanwhile, next month will see the expiration of a 30-month stay that will allow for approval of Lantheus' radioequivalent version of Novartis’ gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumor-fighting Lutathera, which the FDA granted a tentative approval in March.
Radiopharmaceuticals, or drugs made using small amounts of radioactive material, have quickly risen in popularity. Just last week, radioisotope supplier Niowave broke ground on a new $75 million facility in Lansing, Michigan, that will see multiple superconducting linear accelerators and state-of-the-art processing and quality systems to facilitate the increased production of alpha-emitting isotope Actinium-225 (Ac-225).
The class of nuclear medicines can be used in both therapeutic and diagnostic roles.