Norway leads global efforts in theranostics, a promising precision cancer treatment

Page date: published 11 June 2025; updated 26 August 2026; 5 min read (as rendered).

The article describes theranostics as pairing diagnostic imaging with targeted internal radiotherapy, often using the same radiolabelled tracer to locate and treat cancer, including metastatic lesions. It presents Norway as a long-standing centre for radiopharmaceutical research, citing more than 25 years of work and the Norwegian-developed radium-223 drug Xofigo, produced in Norway for over 20 years before Bayer acquired it in 2014. The page says Xofigo is prescribed worldwide for metastatic prostate cancer and calls it the only approved alpha therapy for clinical use at the time of publication.

Research areas named include tracer pairs, dosimetry, alpha-emitting radionuclides, and comparisons of targeted alpha and beta therapies. The article says PET availability in Norway more than doubled during the preceding decade. It describes a linked research and commercialization network involving Oslo University Hospital, the University of Oslo, Oslo Cancer Cluster and Oslo Science City, NorPreM Theranostic Group, GE HealthCare, and the Norwegian Medical Cyclotron Centre, alongside clinical-stage firms ARTBIO, Thor Medical and Oncoinvent. Other examples include Radforsk’s reported NOK 15 million investment in the TARACAN alpha-emitter platform, PharmaLogic’s acquisition of Norwegian radiopharmaceutical CDMO Agilera, and investor Trond Moen’s reported donations of billions of kroner toward PET facilities and research. These are article claims and point-in-time descriptions.

Contact: Rasmus Malmborg, Investment Manager, Health and life science, Oslo; rasmus.malmborg@innovasjonnorge.no (phone available through the page’s reveal control). Related industry links: Health and life science; Radiopharma.