One To Watch
Niowave
Company Overview
A Michigan-based radioisotope producer that has quietly become the critical supply bottleneck for the radioligand therapy boom, securing long-term Actinium-225 agreements with both Novartis and AstraZeneca while breaking ground on a $75 million expansion facility. Niowave is the only private company in the world that both builds and operates superconducting linear accelerators alongside in-house radiochemistry, giving it end-to-end control over Actinium-225 (Ac-225) production that most competitors cannot replicate. The company employs approximately 180 people and remains privately held.
Headquarters and Global Presence
Niowave is headquartered at 1012 N Walnut Street, Lansing, Michigan. Operations are concentrated in Lansing, with the new $75 million facility — also in Lansing — set to expand domestic production capacity significantly when it comes online in 2028.
Founding and History
Niowave was founded in 2005 by Terry Grimm as a spinoff from Michigan State University's National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, translating particle accelerator physics into a commercial radioisotope business. The company marked its 20th anniversary in January 2026, having spent two decades building the accelerator expertise and radiochemistry infrastructure that now underpins its supply agreements with two of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. It has remained privately held throughout, financing recent expansion through non-dilutive deal structures tied to its Novartis partnership.
Therapy Areas and Focus
Niowave's commercial focus is oncology, specifically the supply of alpha-emitting radioisotopes that underpin targeted alpha therapy (TAT) and the broader radioligand therapy field. Ac-225 is in acute shortage globally — demand driven by clinical programs from Novartis, AstraZeneca, and a growing number of biotechs is outpacing supply from legacy government sources such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Niowave's accelerator-based production route offers a path to meaningful scale that reactor-dependent methods cannot easily match.
Technology Platforms and Modalities
The company's core asset is its proprietary superconducting electron linear accelerator, which generates the photon flux needed to produce Ac-225 via photonuclear reactions — a route that sidesteps the reactor availability constraints that throttle competing suppliers. Pairing the accelerator with in-house radiochemistry allows Niowave to handle isotope separation and formulation under one roof, reducing the logistical complexity that degrades yield in transit-dependent production chains. This vertical integration is what makes the company genuinely difficult to replicate quickly: building and operating superconducting linacs is a niche capability with a long learning curve.
Key Pipeline and Programs
Niowave is an isotope supplier and manufacturer rather than a drug developer, so its "pipeline" is better understood as a portfolio of supply commitments and emerging radiopharmaceutical collaborations. On the supply side, its long-term Ac-225 agreement with Novartis — announced February 11, 2026 — provides scalable isotope for Novartis's radioligand therapy portfolio, which includes the approved Lutathera and pipeline assets beyond lutetium-177. The AstraZeneca agreement, expanded in December 2025 to a 10-year commitment after AstraZeneca exercised an option to increase capacity, anchors supply for AstraZeneca's growing radioconjugate pipeline. On the drug development side, Niowave entered a 50/50 collaboration with Aptevo Therapeutics in May 2026 to co-develop up to three radiopharmaceutical oncology programs, with Niowave contributing isotope expertise and taking an initial 7.9% equity stake in Aptevo — exercisable up to 19.99% through warrants. These programs are at the discovery and early preclinical stage.
Recent Developments
In December 2025, AstraZeneca exercised its option to convert an existing Niowave supply arrangement into a 10-year Ac-225 commitment, signaling confidence in Niowave's ability to scale. Novartis followed in February 2026 with its own long-term global supply agreement, structured to include non-dilutive financing for Niowave's capacity build-out. Niowave broke ground on the $75 million Lansing production facility on May 21, 2026 — expected to be operational by 2028, creating approximately 70 jobs. The Aptevo collaboration was announced six days later, marking Niowave's first formal move into co-developing radiopharmaceutical drug candidates rather than purely supplying isotopes.
Key Personnel
Terry Grimm serves as Founder and CEO. A physicist by training, he spun Niowave out of Michigan State University's National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory in 2005 and has led the company through two decades of accelerator development and commercial scale-up. Matt Burba serves as President and Chief Commercial Officer, overseeing the supply agreements and partnership strategy that have defined Niowave's recent trajectory. Ryan Jankovic serves as Director of Finance and Business Development, with responsibility for the deal structures supporting the company's capital-intensive expansion.
Strategic Partnerships
The Novartis long-term global supply agreement (February 2026) and the AstraZeneca 10-year commitment (December 2025) together represent the commercial spine of Niowave's business, providing revenue visibility against which the $75 million facility investment is being made. The 50/50 Aptevo collaboration (May 2026) is a strategic pivot — Niowave acquiring an equity position in a clinical-stage biotech and co-developing programs that would put the company on the drug side of the radioligand value chain for the first time.
FAQ Section
Ac-225 supply is a genuine bottleneck for the radioligand therapy field — existing government reactor sources cannot meet projected clinical and commercial demand. Niowave's accelerator-based production route is one of the few scalable alternatives, and both Novartis and AstraZeneca have pipeline assets that depend on reliable Ac-225 access. Locking in long-term agreements now is less about commercial preference and more about securing supply that could otherwise constrain their entire RLT programs.
Ac-225 is an alpha-emitting isotope with a 9.9-day half-life, making it well suited for targeted alpha therapy: conjugated to a tumor-seeking ligand, it delivers a high-energy, short-range particle burst that destroys cancer cells while limiting damage to surrounding tissue. The problem is production — historically Ac-225 has been extracted from uranium-233 decay chains held at a handful of government facilities, creating tight supply ceilings. Photonuclear accelerator production, Niowave's approach, offers a route to industrial-scale output that reactor extraction cannot easily match.
Niowave is the only private company in the world that both builds and operates superconducting electron linear accelerators with integrated on-site radiochemistry. Most competitors either rely on reactor-based production — capacity-constrained and geopolitically exposed — or source accelerator time from government facilities. Niowave's end-to-end control means it can manage yield, purity, and logistics under one roof, which matters enormously for a short-lived isotope where every handling step costs product.
The May 2026 Aptevo deal is a meaningful strategic shift: Niowave is co-developing up to three radiopharmaceutical oncology programs on a 50/50 basis, contributing isotope supply and radiochemistry expertise rather than just selling material. The equity investment — 7.9% at closing, up to 19.99% through warrants — gives Niowave economic exposure to drug development outcomes for the first time. Whether this represents a genuine pivot into therapeutics or a strategic hedge on future isotope demand will become clearer as the Aptevo programs advance.
Niowave's isotope supply is focused on oncology, specifically programs that use alpha-emitting radioisotopes to target solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Its customers' pipelines span prostate cancer, lung cancer, and other solid tumor indications where radioligand and radioconjugate approaches are in clinical development. The Aptevo collaboration will bring specific tumor targets into focus as those programs are disclosed.
Niowave is an operational commercial-stage company, not a clinical-stage startup — it is already supplying Ac-225 to major pharmaceutical partners under binding long-term agreements. The $75 million Lansing facility, which broke ground in May 2026 and is expected to be operational by 2028, is a capacity expansion to meet contracted demand, funded in part through the non-dilutive financing structures embedded in the Novartis deal. The 2028 operational date is the key milestone: until that facility comes online, Niowave's supply footprint is effectively fixed at current levels.
The opportunity is real, but execution on a capital-intensive build while managing live supply obligations is not risk-free. Key watchpoints include:
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