Businessperson of the year 2024- Dr Christian Behrenbruch (Telix Pharma)

Dr Christian Behrenbruch founded Telix Pharmaceuticals in 2015, along with Andreas Kluge, with an aim to create a truly integrated radiopharmaceutical company, enabled by precision medicine. With over two decades of radiopharmaceuticals experience and a strong track record in global healthcare and biotechnology entrepreneurship and technology commercialisation, Dr Behrenbruch has brought a unique blend of technical expertise and executive leadership to guide Telix as it furthers the next stage of growth. Dr Behrenbruch has a strong focus on purpose and values-leadership and is well versed in all aspects of running a publicly listed company as both the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director in the United States and Australia.

Under his leadership, Telix is developing targeted radiation therapies with the potential to be efficacious as stand-alone treatments or as complements to existing treatment modalities, addressing areas of high unmet medical need.

Illuccix (kit for the preparation of Ga-68 Glu-urea-Lys(ahx)-hbed-CC Injection), also known as 68Ga-PSMA-11 injection), Telix’s lead prostate cancer imaging agent having received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), and Health Canada approval, has been a key driver in the company’s business growth.

In the second year since launching Illuccix, the commercial-stage diagnostics business has gone from strength to strength, underpinning total revenue growth of 214 per cent from $160.1 million in 2022, to $502.5 million in 2023. Telix has achieved a meaningful market share in the US, estimated at over 30 per cent of the PSMA-PET/CT1 imaging market for prostate cancer.

During 2023, Illuccix became available in two additional regional Australian locations - Mackay in Queensland, and Hobart in Tasmania. For the first time, men living outside metropolitan areas in Australia have access to advanced prostate imaging that is both approved by the Australian TGA and available for reimbursement on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS).

“We have built a strong global supply, manufacturing and distribution network. This has underpinned the successful launch of Illuccix and the delivery of many clinical trials. We continue to invest in vertical integration and manufacturing and in 2023 we opened our state-of-the-art radiopharmaceutical production facility in Belgium, one of the largest of its kind in Europe. In addition, the integration of Optimal Tracers has expanded our translational radiochemistry capability and established a US-based laboratory and production footprint for radiopharmaceutical doses to support clinical trials”, said Dr Behrenbruch.

With a clear focus on the company’s ongoing investment around vertical integration and building integrated supply chains, 2024 saw Telix Pharma entering into an agreement to acquire Canada-based radioisotope production technology firm ARTMS Inc., its advanced cyclotron-based isotope production platform, manufacturing plant and stockpile of ultra-pure rare metals required for consumable target production. 

Later in the year, the company announced the acquisition of RLS (USA) for $230 million to build the next generation radiometal production network. Further, majority investments in 2024 were focused on the delivery of late-stage programmes, including preparation to launch kidney cancer imaging agent Zircaix and Pixclara, an imaging agent for cancerous brain lesions.

“The ability to successfully commercialise our imaging agents is important to our strategy in several ways. Revenue generation provides a significant source of funding towards the development of our therapeutic programmes. More strategically, it is the foundation of our integrated precision medicine approach because the ability to precisely quantify disease, guide treatment decisions and select patients for therapy both de-risks and enhances our therapeutic pipeline”, mentioned Dr Behrenbruch.

With major plans in place for the company’s future growth, Dr Behrenbruch is expanding the company’s theranostic pipeline with new assets targeting Fibroblast Activation Protein (FAP), one of the most promising pan-cancer targets in nuclear medicine. Telix’s development programme will initially focus on the treatment of bladder cancer, rounding out its urology franchise, which includes late-stage therapeutic programmes for kidney and prostate cancers.

“2024 proved to be a pivotal year in the history of Telix, as we unlocked the value in our therapeutic pipeline and continued to impact the lives of patients worldwide, every single day. I thank all of our employees who work so tirelessly, inspired by our purpose to help patients with cancer and rare diseases live longer, better quality lives”, highlighted Dr Behrenbruch.

“The end goal is to address areas of unmet medical need in prostate, kidney, brain, and other cancers. These diseases affect millions of people worldwide, and we are committed to changing the trajectory of their cancer care with our products”, he further added.

Accomplishments 

Dr Behrenbruch holds a DPhil (PhD) in biomedical engineering (the University of Oxford); an executive MBA (jointly awarded from New York University, HEC Paris and the London School of Economics (TRIUM Programme); a Juris Doctor (the University of Melbourne). He is a Fellow of Engineers Australia in the management and biomedical colleges and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. 

Previously, Dr Behrenbruch served as Chief Executive Officer at Mirada Solutions (now Mirada Medical Limited) (from July 2001 to December 2002), President at CTI Molecular Imaging (now Siemens Healthcare) (from August 2003 to September 2006), Chief Executive Officer at Fibron Technologies, Inc. (from June 2008 to December 2011) and Chief Executive Officer at ImaginAb, Inc (from October 2007 to February 2015). 

He also served as a Director at Siemens Molecular Imaging (from May 2005 to September 2006), Momentum Biosciences LLC (from July 2007 to June 2009), Radius Health Ltd (now Adaptix Ltd) (from May 2009 to February 2011), Factor Therapeutics (from October 2015 to May 2021) and Amplia Therapeutics (from May 2016 to February 2020). Dr Behrenbruch was the Chairman of Cell Therapies (a partnership with the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre) from October 2012 to July 2014.