In early 2023, one of the first two really big radiopharmaceutical drugs ran into a problem. Novartis' prostate cancer therapy Pluvicto, released only the year before, was suddenly in short supply, snarling up just in time treatment schedules.

In 2024 the supply chain problem is with the isotope Actinium 225, which *everyone* wants for clinical trials. RayzeBio has been a very famous victim, delaying a clinical trial because of the shortages.

In episode 3 of Nuked we explore where the nukes come from, and how biotechs large and small get their hands on them.

With GlyTherix CEO Dr Brad Walsh and Telix Pharmaceuticals CEO Dr Chris Behrenbruch, we look at a potential new front in the US-China tariff war, the Russia question, and how an early stage biotech and one with a product in the market organises its nuclear material supplies.

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The radiopharmaceuticals sector is on a knife point. The scope of what nuclear medicine can do is exploding. But the radioisotopes that biotechs need to make those therapies are in very, very short supply. Major clinical trials are hitting pause because of shortages of critical nuclear isotopes, and the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies are buying up biotechs that have locked in both the science and the supply chain.

There will be some very successful winners, and many, many losers as companies fight for the nuclear resources they so desperately need to make their therapies work.

In this series Nuked, we will walk you through this fascinating marriage between chemistry and physics, why is exciting both investors and clinicians, how biotechs are fighting to lock in supplies of nuclear material, and whether Australia has a shot at becoming a nuclear power.

In our first episode, we speak to Peter MacCallum Cancer Center chief radiopharmaceutical scientist Dr Mohammad Haskali and HB Biotechnology managing director Charlie Williams.

Produced by Rachel Williamson and Charis Palmer. Music and effect credits to Ziso, Inspector J, Seth Parson and Boom Library.

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Wearable kidneys. Organs on a chip. Xenotransplantation. The future is here.

But is that the future people in biotech are truly looking to? Because the future that Certa Therapeutics CEO Darren Kelly is looking to is much less 1980s sci-fi and more... Apple watch.

And in a future where the numbers point to a rise in lifestyle diseases thanks to diet and a lack of exercise, climate change is an added risk that few are yet factoring in. Professor Meg Jardine, the head of University of Sydney's Clinical Trials Centre, explains where the risks are.

Produced by Rachel Williamson and Charis Palmer. Music and effect credits to Ziso, Inspector J, Seth Parson and Boom Library.

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