Perceptive Discovery and Certis Oncology Partner to Strengthen Translational Radiopharmaceutical CRO Development

• Perceptive Discovery, a leading preclinical CRO supporting radiopharmaceutical and oncology drug development, and Certis Oncology, an AI-enabled translational science company, have announced a strategic collaboration to deliver integrated, translationally richer preclinical programs for radiopharmaceutical sponsors.

• The collaboration pairs Certis Oncology’s study-ready, clinically characterized patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models across a broad range of tumor types with Perceptive Discovery’s global capabilities in radiochemistry, in vitro and in vivo pharmacology, multimodal imaging, and quantitative image analysis — creating an end-to-end preclinical CRO solution for sponsors evaluating targeted radiotherapeutics and radiotracers.

Perceptive Discovery, a leading preclinical and translational research CRO supporting radiopharmaceutical and oncology drug development, and Certis Oncology, an AI-enabled precision oncology and translational science company, announced a strategic collaboration on June 1, 2026, from Boston, Massachusetts. The partnership is designed to give radiopharmaceutical sponsors access to an integrated preclinical CRO workflow that combines clinically relevant tumor models with established radiochemistry, imaging, and quantitative analysis capabilities under a unified research framework.

Through the collaboration, Certis Oncology will provide non-exclusive, study-ready in vivo patient-derived xenograft models spanning a broad range of tumor types and molecular profiles. These clinically characterized test systems will be embedded directly into Perceptive Discovery’s preclinical workflows to support the evaluation of targeted radiotherapeutics and radiotracers. The combination creates an end-to-end research program capability covering in vitro characterization, in vivo imaging, biodistribution, and efficacy assessment — areas where sponsor demand for biologically relevant data generation ahead of IND submission is growing significantly alongside the expansion of the radiopharmaceutical pipeline.

The translational rationale for the collaboration is explicit. Conventional preclinical tumor models offer limited biological context for radiopharmaceutical programs that are increasingly designed around specific molecular targets and patient population subsets. Certis Oncology’s PDX models are derived from actual patient tumors, molecularly characterized through its AI-enabled Oncology Intelligence platform, and maintained to preserve the heterogeneity and target expression profiles relevant to clinical oncology. Incorporating these models into Perceptive Discovery’s CRO workflows is intended to improve the predictive value of preclinical data generated for sponsors and reduce translational risk between preclinical and clinical development stages.

Perceptive Discovery brings an integrated set of capabilities to the collaboration, including radiochemistry, radioligand binding assay services, biodistribution studies, multimodal imaging spanning PET, SPECT, MRI, CT, and optical modalities, and quantitative image analysis. Certis Oncology, founded in 2016 and operating a CLIA-certified, AAALAC- and OLAW-accredited laboratory in San Diego’s Sorrento Valley, contributes predictive modeling, dynamic multi-modal dataset analysis, and functional validation in patient-derived cancer models. Together, the combined platform supports exploratory, translational, and IND-enabling radiopharmaceutical research programs tailored to individual sponsor objectives.

“As radiopharmaceutical programs become increasingly sophisticated, sponsors are looking for preclinical approaches that deliver deeper translational insight and stronger biological context. The addition of Certis Oncology’s clinically characterized PDX models complements Perceptive Discovery’s integrated radiochemistry, imaging, and translational research capabilities, allowing us to provide sponsors with more comprehensive strategies for evaluating radiopharmaceutical therapies.”

Ben Murphy, CEO, Perceptive Discovery