Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:FUSN), a clinical-stage oncology company focused on developing next-generation radiopharmaceuticals as precision medicines, stock rose 12.29% (As on December 27, 11:07:59 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after Raymond James upgraded Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc. to strong buy on the heels of a 104% premium paid by Bristol Meyers Squibb Co. BMY for Rayze Bio Inc. in its $4.1 billion deal for the company. This will bolster its cancer drug business, gaining a late-stage targeted radiopharma therapy, RYZ101. Similar to RYZB, FUSN is developing treatments that emit high-energy radioactive particles to kill cancer through “targeted alpha therapeutics”. Further, Brokerage RBC Capital Markets says the deal sends strong signals of validation to alpha-emitter radiopharma. BMY’s move is a strong statement, citing radiopharmaceutical therapeutics as an important next wave of innovation in oncology therapy – RBC. This represents the second large radiopharmaceutical deal in late 2023 following Eli Lilly’s LLY.N $1.4 billion buyout of radiopharmaceutical firm Point Biopharma PNT.O, which brokerage says offers a positive read-through to established companies in the space including FUSN

Moreover, the company and BWXT Medical Ltd., a subsidiary of BWX Technologies, Inc., has announced that the companies have entered into a new agreement for the supply of generators to produce actinium-225, a medical isotope used to treat cancer in clinical trials. Under the agreement, BWXT Medical will provide Fusion with a preferential supply of radium-225 and access to generator technology, enabling Fusion to produce actinium-225 (actinium-227 free) on site at the Company’s good manufacturing practice (GMP) manufacturing facility. In addition, the Companies have expanded their existing actinium-225 supply agreement, supporting Fusion’s advancing pipeline of targeted alpha therapies. Actinium-225 is an alpha-emitting isotope used in Fusion’s targeted alpha therapies (TATs) that combine the isotope with specific tumor targeting vectors to kill cancer cells while minimizing the impact to healthy tissues. Radium-225 is the parent isotope that undergoes decay to form actinium-225. BWXT’s proprietary generator technology allows for the on-demand isolation of high purity actinium-225 from the radium supplied from BWXT. Generators, which will be shipped to Fusion’s GMP production facility, have been used successfully to produce other types of medical isotopes because they are simple to use and do not require investment in high-cost cyclotrons and associated infrastructure and staffing needs.

Furthermore, the company has announced that the compensation committee of the Company’s Board of Directors granted stock option awards to purchase an aggregate of 86,000 shares of its common stock to two employees outside Fusion’s 2020 Stock Option and Incentive Plan.