NorthStar lands $185M debt facility from Hercules to scale cancer isotope output
What's the deal? NorthStar Medical Technologies has secured a multi-year growth capital facility of up to $185 million from Hercules CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, with $100 million upfront. The Wisconsin-based company will use the money to expand isotope production and clinical and commercial drug manufacturing for precision cancer therapies.
What does NorthStar do? It is the first commercial-scale producer of no-carrier-added actinium-225 (n.c.a. Ac-225) using electron-accelerator technology. From its vertically integrated campus in Beloit, Wisconsin, it produces radioisotopes and offers contract development and manufacturing services on a single site.
Why now? The financing follows several milestones. In January 2026, NorthStar became the first in the industry to produce commercial-scale n.c.a. Ac-225 via electron-accelerator technology; more recently, the US Food and Drug Administration accepted its Drug Master File for the isotope, giving customers a validated path to use it in clinical and commercial programs.
What's the endgame? "NorthStar is executing on our vision to become the radiopharmaceutical industry's most comprehensive strategic supply-chain partner," said Dr. Frank Scholz, president and chief executive officer. The company plans to transition to a high-capacity Ac-225 production line at its campus later this year.
Who's buying? NorthStar has supply and manufacturing agreements with more than 30 pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers, including several of the largest companies developing Ac-225 therapies. "NorthStar has demonstrated the ability to produce a critical isotope at scale at an important time for the industry," said Lake McGuire, managing director at Hercules Capital.
The signal: The facility ranks in the 97th percentile of all-time debt rounds among US health companies, underscoring investor appetite for the radiopharmaceutical supply chain. As drugmakers race to bring targeted cancer therapies to market, securing scarce isotopes at scale has become a strategic bottleneck — and the money is flowing to those who can solve it.
Read more: wallstreet-online.de
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