BIOBRIEF
Curium's deal for the imaging drug maker puts the $8 billion headline at its ceiling, not its floor: Lantheus shareholders get cash now and up to $12 more if three drugs hit 2030 sales.
Curium has agreed to buy Lantheus for $102.50 a share in cash, with shareholders able to collect up to another $12 per share if three Lantheus drug franchises hit 2030 sales milestones. The structure puts the deal's $8 billion headline figure at its ceiling, not its floor.
Curium, a private nuclear-medicine supplier controlled by investment firm CapVest Partners, is absorbing Lantheus, a publicly traded imaging-drug maker whose portfolio includes prostate-cancer imaging drug Pylarify, cardiac-imaging enhancer Definity, and Alzheimer's-imaging drug Neuraceq. The combined company would span the radioactive-drug supply chain from isotope production to diagnostic imaging and targeted cancer therapy across more than 70 countries.
Lantheus will become a private company once the deal closes in the first half of 2027, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. A prior Curium proposal in May reportedly valued the company at roughly $7 billion; both sides declined to comment at the time.
The transaction carries a real cost for investors trying to read Lantheus in the meantime. The company has cancelled its Aug. 6, 2026 earnings conference call and suspended its full-year 2026 guidance pending the close, leaving analysts without the usual quarterly checkpoint on Pylarify, Definity, and Neuraceq performance.
The extra $12 per share in contingent value rights is not guaranteed. It depends on 2030 sales targets for Lantheus' prostate-cancer, neurology, and Definity franchises. If the milestones fall short, shareholders walk away with the $102.50 cash offer and nothing more.