Around 1.5 million people worldwide are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year. A radiopharmaceutical developed and patented at TUM and TUM University Hospital enables better visualization of tumor lesions and supports the precise diagnosis of the disease.
Astrid Eckert / TUM Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers among men. Successful treatment depends on accurately identifying both the tumors and potential metastases. Yet conventional imaging techniques often reach their limits, particularly when small tumors or metastases in early disease stages are difficult to distinguish from surrounding tissue in computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging and may therefore go undetected.
To address this challenge, a team at TUM developed a new class of radiopharmaceuticals known as radiohybrid PSMA ligands (rhPSMA). These molecules carry a radioactive diagnostic isotope such as fluorine-18 and bind with high precision to prostate cancer cells that express a specific protein known as prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA). Positron emission tomography (PET) then makes the labeled cells visible. In this way, the radiopharmaceutical acts like a molecular probe that helps detect disease-related changes within the body.
"Our vision was to create a tool that could be used broadly in nuclear medicine imaging while also paving the way for targeted therapies," says Hans-Jürgen Wester, former Professor of Pharmaceutical Radiochemistry at TUM. Together with Alexander Wurzer, then a doctoral researcher in his group, he developed the underlying radiohybrid technology.
"My doctoral research built on extensive experience in prostate cancer research and allowed me to further refine existing molecular scaffolds," Wurzer recalls. The radiochemist says that the close collaboration between the research group and TUM University Hospital was particularly valuable: "Everything is closely interconnected, from basic research and studies in cell and animal models to further development for clinical use."
The researchers developed the compound as a diagnostic radiopharmaceutical in collaboration with Matthias Eiber, Professor of Nuclear Medicine at TUM University Hospital . "For our patients, it is essential that we map the tumor as accurately as possible," says Eiber. "When we first saw images acquired with this new compound, we were impressed by the clarity and precision with which even very small tumor lesions could be visualized."
In 2017, at Professor Wester's initiative, TUM filed a patent application for the invention. "At first, I was concerned that the process could delay my doctoral research, as we could not publish the results until after the patent application had been filed," Alexander Wurzer says. But those concerns proved unfounded: "We registered it at an early stage and were able to complete the process relatively quickly."
Translating ideas into clinical practice
Bringing a discovery from laboratory to market typically takes ten to fifteen years. Once the scientific foundation has been established, researchers must protect their invention and find a company willing to make the substantial investments required for clinical trials and regulatory approval.
The researchers received support from TUM ForTe Patents and Licenses , which advises scientists on inventions and intellectual property, provides funding, negotiates licensing and participation agreements, and manages TUM's patent portfolio.
TUM researchers report around 180 inventions to ForTe Patents and Licenses each year. Roughly 80 of these result in patent applications, most of them with support from Bayerische Patentallianz (BAYPAT), TUM's technology transfer partner specializing in the patenting and commercialization of academic inventions.
On behalf of TUM, BAYPAT concluded a licensing agreement for the radiohybrid technology with Scintomics. Founded by Hans-Jürgen Wester in 2006, the TUM spin-off initially developed fully automated production systems for radiopharmaceuticals before expanding into the development of its own radiopharmaceutical compounds. In this role, Scintomics translated the academic invention into a technology suitable for industrial development, thereby laying the foundation for its subsequent clinical and regulatory development. Scintomics subsequently entered into a sublicense agreement with the British pharmaceutical company Blue Earth Diagnostics, which took over the clinical and regulatory development and guided the radiopharmaceutical through to market approval.
From patent to patient
What followed were years of extensive research and clinical testing, in close collaboration between the researchers and their industry partners. The diagnostic radiopharmaceutical ultimately received regulatory approval in the United States in 2023, followed by Taiwan and South Korea in 2025, making it available for clinical use. "For physicians, this diagnostic agent provides a new level of precision," says Matthias Eiber. "It enables them to tailor treatment plans to individual patients and avoid unnecessary therapies."
Astrid Eckert / TUM According to Alexander Wurzer, another key advantage of the radiopharmaceutical is the robustness and efficiency of its production process. "Working with radioactive isotopes is a race against time. The compound's easy synthesis and high scalability make it possible to manufacture it reliably and in large quantities," he says. Today, Wurzer is responsible for technology transfer at the Department of Nuclear Medicine at TUM University Hospital, where he helps establish manufacturing processes for radiopharmaceuticals used in a range of cancers.
Research on the radiohybrid technology continues. The radiopharmaceutical is designed in such a way that the same molecular backbone can also be linked to a therapeutic isotope such as lutetium-177 instead of a diagnostic isotope. Equipped in this way, it could deliver radiation directly to cancer cells and destroy them while largely sparing healthy tissue.
"We designed the technology so that it can be used both for diagnosis and potentially for therapy," says Wurzer. In medicine, this principle is known as theranostics. A therapeutic application has not yet been approved, but several clinical trials are currently underway. In the best case, the technology developed at TUM could one day not only detect cancer cells but also help eliminate them.
Looking back, Wurzer considers patent protection a crucial factor in the technology's success: "A patent provides the foundation for companies to invest in the extensive development and regulatory work required to bring a new technology to patients. Without that protection, many inventions would never make their way into widespread clinical use."
Medicine
How do we treat serious diseases like cancer, diabetes or Alzheimer's? Learn more about our research in medicine as well as health and sport sciences.
TUM ForTe Patents and Licenses is the university's central contact point for all matters related to intellectual property (IP). To streamline IP negotiations with spin-offs, the team has established a fast-track process aimed at concluding both an equity participation agreement and a licensing agreement within three months. These agreements define the university's virtual equity stake and the terms governing the use of intellectual property.
An article from TUM Magazine Issue 4 / October 2026 .
