A McMaster startup has received critical funding to commercialize a device that aims to make nuclear medicine more accessible than ever. 

The Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization (CPDC) has invested $650,000 in RadioSyn, a startup that is creating a miniaturized automated device that synthesizes radiopharmaceuticals. 

The investment from CPDC, which was behind the success of Fusion Pharmaceuticals, is on top of a $500,000 grant from the Canadian Medical Isotope Ecosystem Development Fund. 

The device addresses limitations in conventional diagnostic and therapeutic workflows by standardizing and streamlining the manufacturing of radiopharmaceuticals and radioimmunoconjugates, said RadioSyn CEO and co-founder Saman Sadeghi, an associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology at McMaster. 

The RadioSyn platform is small — about the size of two shoeboxes — and uses disposable microfluidic chips that perform end-to-end chemical and radiochemical reactions.  

It enables clinicians and researchers to produce high-quality radiopharmaceuticals wherever they are, rather than relying on an external system of production. 

“It is really the future of medicine,” said Sadeghi. “Our device offers cost-effective, on-demand delivery of radiopharmaceuticals, making it ideal for meeting the growing demand for personalized and precision medicine.” 

McMaster’s thriving ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship has been integral in enabling the development of this device, said RadioSyn co-founder Ravi Selvaganapathy. 

“McMaster and Hamilton have that critical mass of expertise and innovation in radiopharmaceuticals – not just in research, but in commercialization and development to get concepts from the lab to the market,” said Selvaganapathy, a Distinguished University Professor in the Faculty of Engineering and holder of the Joseph & Amy Ip Chair in Bio-Innovation. 

Support from CPDC and the McMaster Industry Liaison Office (MILO) has enabled RadioSyn to work toward a broader vision of “democratizing” access to radiopharmaceuticals, Selvaganapathy said. 

“What we really want to do is to make production at the point of care much easier and automated so that this can be distributed throughout health care.” 

Many of the tools traditionally used to create radiopharmaceuticals haven’t improved much since the 1940s, as they’ve been primarily used in industrial settings rather than in medicine, said Owen Roberts, CEO of CPDC.  

Given the high demand for these specialized drugs, he said there’s an urgent need to improve how radiopharmaceuticals are made. 

“This is an elegant way of miniaturizing production and standardizing the process, so you have a high-quality product every time,” said Roberts. 

CPDC’s investment will allow RadioSyn to demonstrate proof-of-concept within the next year, with the next step being commercialization of the product, he said. 

Although the RadioSyn device is built specifically to synthesize radiopharmaceuticals, it’s capable of standardizing the synthesis of other drugs that are produced in a similar way, Sadeghi said. 

“This is the engineering backbone that’s going to accelerate commercialization and innovation within the biomanufacturing sector.”