Cancer treatment is entering a new phase, and nuclear medicine is moving from the margins to the mainstream of that shift. While much of the pharmaceutical industry continues to debate precision, cost and access, radiopharmaceuticals are steadily redefining how cancer is diagnosed and treated. At the centre of that transformation stands Curium, a US-headquartered global leader in nuclear medicine that has, in little more than a decade, built one of the most formidable platforms in radiopharmaceutical diagnostics and therapeutics worldwide.
Leading that transformation is Renaud Dehareng, Chief Executive Officer and shareholder, whose relationship with Curium is not simply executive but entrepreneurial. He has been CEO since the company’s creation in its current form, but more significantly, he helped shape its strategy and fund its growth. When he speaks about Curium, it is not as a temporary steward but as a long-term architect.
Curium did not begin with an expansive manifesto about revolutionising cancer care. It emerged from the carve-out of a division from a Belgian listed company, backed by US private equity. In those early years, the objective was straightforward: stabilise operations, restore profitability and build a standalone entity capable of sustaining itself. Vision, in its grandest sense, came later.
“Between 2012 and 2015, it was about making it profitable without really a long-term vision.”
That discipline laid the groundwork for what followed. By 2015, a clearer opportunity had emerged. Nuclear medicine diagnostics in oncology were fragmented, geographically dispersed and ripe for consolidation. Curium raised approximately one billion dollars and embarked on an ambitious acquisition strategy, bringing 14 companies into the fold over a five-year period. The aim was not incremental growth but category leadership.
The scale of that consolidation was significant. Integrating scientific teams, harmonising regulatory systems and aligning commercial operations across multiple jurisdictions required both financial commitment and organisational resilience. Yet the result was a strengthened global infrastructure and a dominant position in diagnostic nuclear medicine.
It was during this consolidation phase that Curium’s ambition began to evolve. Nuclear medicine was not merely a diagnostic tool; it was increasingly revealing its therapeutic potential. By 2018 and 2019, Dehareng and his team recognised that radiopharmaceuticals could move beyond imaging and into targeted cancer treatment.
“From 2018 onward, every decision and investment that we have made was guided by this vision of developing nuclear medicine to become one of, if not the main technology used for treating cancer.”
That statement marked a pivotal shift. Curium was no longer solely a consolidator of diagnostics; it was positioning itself as an innovation engine in therapeutics.
The boldness of that ambition was reflected in a defining capital allocation decision. In 2019, the company committed 100 per cent of its cash flow as reinvestment into its therapeutics R&D pipeline capabilities . Over time, this investment commitment ran into the hundreds of millions. It was a concentrated bet on itself, underpinned by alignment with its board and shareholders.
For Dehareng, such reinvestment is not extraordinary. It is essential. He believes the strongest growth companies reinvest fully into their future rather than distributing dividends. Today, one hundred per cent of Curium’s annual investment is directed towards innovation and expansion, from clinical development to manufacturing infrastructure and commercial capability.
The field Curium operates in has become intensely competitive. Hundreds of preclinical and clinical programmes in nuclear medicine are underway globally. Most will fail. Success depends not only on scientific promise but on operational and regulatory feasibility. Curium’s strategy is built on rigorous evaluation. Every potential project is examined across scientific viability, production scalability, regulatory pathway and commercial infrastructure.
“We know that between now and 2035 there will probably be 15 to 20 drugs that will be successful in nuclear medicine. The way you stay ahead is by developing a third or half of those.”
This combination of ambition and discipline defines Curium’s competitive positioning. The company does not merely pursue innovation; it pursues selective innovation, supported by infrastructure that few can replicate.
Operationally, nuclear medicine presents complexities rarely encountered in traditional pharmaceuticals. Production often begins in nuclear reactors, where materials are irradiated to produce medical isotopes. These isotopes are processed in specialised facilities and combined with targeting molecules in radiolabelling sites. Finished doses are then distributed globally.
The challenge is physics. Radioactive isotopes decay rapidly. Once production begins, time becomes the critical variable. Logistics, compliance and coordination must operate flawlessly.
“It’s kind of like shipping ice cubes across the globe – there is limited time before the ice melts. Radioisotopes can lose their activity very, very rapidly.”
Curium currently delivers doses for approximately 35,000 patients per day. That scale reflects a global supply chain built with precision, redundancy and deep technical expertise. It also highlights a core competitive advantage: the ability to produce and reliably deliver highly sensitive products worldwide, every single day.
When asked how he defines success, Dehareng does not refer to revenue targets or market share. Instead, he returns to impact on patients. Nuclear medicine’s appeal lies in its targeted mechanism of action, delivering radiation directly to tumour cells while limiting damage to surrounding healthy tissue.
“We will call success when we’ve reached a point where 80 per cent of cancers have a nuclear medicine solution and a hundred million patients’ lives are improved.”
It is an audacious benchmark, one that may take a decade or more to approach. Yet it encapsulates the company’s long-term ambition and the belief that radiopharmaceuticals can become central to oncology.
The name Curium itself reflects this scientific conviction. It references the element named after Marie and Pierre Curie, pioneers in radioactivity research. The symbolism is deliberate. It signals respect for the scientific foundations of the field and an aspiration to extend that legacy into modern oncology.
Theranostics, the integration of diagnosing disease and targeted therapy using related molecular pathways, represents one of the most promising developments in cancer care. Curium’s role within this space is twofold. First, it operates as an innovation engine, employing approximately 5,000 people globally in 70 countries, including hundreds of highly specialised scientists across chemistry, translational research, regulatory affairs and clinical development. Second, it positions itself as a consolidator, providing the commercial and supply chain backbone that smaller biotech firms often lack.
While Curium operates across Europe and Asia, its headquarters and strategic base are firmly rooted in the United States. FDA approval typically serves as the first milestone for new products. From there, global teams extend processes and expertise into Europe, Japan and China, adapting to local regulatory frameworks while maintaining consistent quality and safety standards.
Adaptation and compliance sit at the core of its regulatory posture, complemented by active engagement with policymakers and regulators to help shape frameworks that expand patient access to targeted diagnostics and therapies.
Beyond strategy and infrastructure, culture underpins execution. Curium’s internal framework is built around commitment, collaboration and integrity. Commitment ensures that once strategic decisions are made, they are pursued relentlessly. Collaboration bridges disciplines in an environment where chemists, quality specialists and logistics teams must operate seamlessly. Integrity safeguards patient trust in a field where safety is non-negotiable.
Purpose binds those values together. Thousands of employees across continents are aligned behind a shared mission of transforming cancer treatment through nuclear medicine. For Dehareng, aligning people around that vision is perhaps the achievement he is most proud of. Financial growth matters, but cultural cohesion sustains momentum.
From a carved-out division focused on profitability to a US-headquartered global platform delivering tens of thousands of doses to patients daily, Curium’s trajectory reflects strategic clarity and disciplined execution. Its ambition to enable nuclear medicine solutions for 80% of cancers is bold, but not abstract. It is supported by capital, infrastructure and a workforce aligned around long-term scientific impact.
If the next decade unfolds as Dehareng intends, nuclear medicine will move from specialist niche to central pillar of oncology. And Curium, built through consolidation, conviction and reinvestment, intends not merely to participate in that future, but to define it.