Lilly misses its Point

Lilly’s $1.4bn purchase of Point Biopharma took another blow on Wednesday, with the company disclosing the discontinuation of a Point-originated radiopharmaceutical, PNT2001, in its fourth-quarter earnings presentation. The project wasn’t Point’s lead at the time of the 2023 deal, but some analysts believed that PNT2001, which used the alpha-emitting radioisotope actinium-225, might have been one of the driving forces. Actinium is said to be more potent and precise than the beta-emitter lutetium-177, used in currently approved radiopharmaceuticals, and in Point’s erstwhile lead asset, PNT2002. That project was abandoned last year following disappointing results from the pivotal Splash trial. Meanwhile, the FAP-targeting, actinium-225-labelled PNT6555 also appears to be dead after a phase 1 trial was terminated last year. One late-stage Point project is still be in play – Lilly’s partner Lantheus is pursuing approval of PNT2003 as a generic version of Novartis’s Lutathera. The Novartis drug sold $816m in 2025, so is hardly a big hitter. Lilly might also have been interested in Point’s manufacturing capabilities, and showed that it’s still got an appetite for radiopharmaceuticals with a 2024 deal, albeit a cautious one, with Radionetics. Lilly also bought Avid Radiopharmaceuticals in 2010, but that transaction primarily involved imaging agents.

Selected assets from Point Biopharma

Source: OncologyPipeline & company Q4 2025 presentation.