GE HealthCare (Nasdaq: GEHC) aims to bolster its radiopharmaceutical supply chain with a $945 million cash deal to buy Sofie Biosciences and its U.S. network of manufacturing sites.
The goal is to obtain last-mile logistics for radioactive imaging agents that have a short half-life and need to be produced as close to patients as possible. The acquisition will also give the medtech full international control of an upcoming pan-cancer PET radiotracer.
Sofie maintains 15 contract manufacturing sites across the country, in addition to a theranostic-focused research facility, with 21 cyclotrons that help deliver hundreds of thousands of doses annually. The company has already been working with GE HealthCare to produce its Flyrcado injection (flurpiridaz F-18) for cardiac PET imaging, which launched last year.
“The PET radiopharmaceutical market is expanding rapidly with the introduction of innovative radiotracers and advances in precision care, including the growing adoption of targeted therapies,” Kevin O’Neill, president and CEO of GE HealthCare’s pharmaceutical diagnostics segment, said in a statement.
“As part of GE HealthCare, SOFIE Biosciences is expected to grow in the low double digits, and enables us to participate across the radiopharmaceutical value stream, meeting customer demand through a mix of GE HealthCare owned and partner facilities,” O’Neill added.
After the deal’s closure, slated for the first half of next year, GE HealthCare said Sofie will continue to operate as an independent manufacturing partner to its current customers. Sofie also helps produce Lantheus’ Pylarify (piflufolastat F-18) for prostate cancer imaging and Neuraceq (florabetaben F-18) for beta amyloid plaques and Alzheimer’s disease, among others.
According to the company, the radiopharmaceutical industry as a whole is poised to grow, with about 20 PET radiotracers currently available and over 30 radiotherapeutics under development.
“As demand continues to increase for F18 products, and pipelines for new diagnostics and therapeutics continue to expand, joining GE HealthCare marks an exciting step in our journey as a leading U.S. CMO,” said Sofie’s co-founder, president and CEO, Patrick Phelps.
The Virginia-based Sofie has been developing a fluorine-18 radiotracer dubbed FAPI-74, which is being evaluated in phase 3 trials as a new diagnostic agent in pancreatic cancer and gastroesophageal tumors. Like other PET injections tagged with F-18, it carries a 110-minute half-life, giving it a delivery radius with about eight hours of travel time.
GE HealthCare has been co-developing the agent, and already holds its commercial rights outside the U.S. The two companies believe its target, the fibroblast activation protein, holds promise against multiple types of cancer.
The imaging giant made a similar play in 2025, when it acquired the remaining 50% stake in the Nihon Medi-Physics joint venture it ran with Sumitomo Chemical. The Tokyo-based Nihon maintained 13 manufacturing sites across Japan.
