Cadena Research is a Contract Research Organisation created by the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization (CPDC) — a leading Canadian radiopharmaceutical research and development hub — to provide commercial CRO services to external sponsors navigating the preclinical development of radiopharmaceuticals. The company is operated as a commercial entity of CPDC and inherits its parent organisation’s cyclotron infrastructure, hot cell facilities, radiochemistry expertise, and established radiopharmaceutical development capabilities. Its website is bilingual (English and French), consistent with its Canadian institutional roots.

Cadena Research’s stated mission is to accelerate the path from radiopharmaceutical candidate to clinical translation, serving a client base spanning start-ups, academic innovators, biotechnology companies, and large pharmaceutical organisations internationally. The company specialises in programmes that require strategic scientific guidance alongside laboratory execution, and provides personalised project management with senior expert oversight across all engagements.

The radiopharmaceutical sector has experienced significant commercial momentum in recent years, driven by the clinical and commercial success of radioligand therapies such as lutetium PSMA-617 (Pluvicto) and lutetium DOTATATE (Lutathera), and by growing investment in alpha-emitting therapeutics, theranostic pairs, and companion diagnostic development. Cadena Research is positioned to serve the growing pipeline of sponsors requiring specialised preclinical CRO infrastructure that is not available at generalist contract research organisations.

Key Products and Services

Preclinical Research Services

• In Vitro Studies — IC50 screening, cell culture and target expression, target binding and binding affinity determination, cytotoxicity assays, and target internalisation studies; applicable across small molecules, peptides, antibodies, and other radiopharmaceutical scaffolds
• In Vivo Studies — efficacy evaluation in xenograft tumour models, safety and toxicology, preclinical dosimetry, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (PK/PD), biodistribution studies, and multimodal imaging (CT, PET, SPECT, ultrasound) with quantification and modelling
• Analytical Support — analytical chemistry services supporting compound characterisation, quality control, and IND package preparation
• Companion Diagnostic Development — preclinical development support for companion diagnostics paired with therapeutic radiopharmaceutical programmes

Radiochemistry

• Custom synthesis, radiolabelling, purification, quality control, and characterisation of radiolabelled compounds across small molecules, peptides, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), proteins, and antibodies
• Isotope selection strategy and conjugation chemistry advisory, supported by CPDC’s state-of-the-art hot cells and cyclotron infrastructure
• Stability and shelf-life testing, immunoreactivity determination, and in vitro internalisation assays for radiolabelled compounds
• Licensed isotope portfolio encompassing: ¹¹C, ¹³N, ¹⁵O, ¹⁸F (PET isotopes); ⁶⁴Cu, ⁶⁸Ga, ⁸⁹Zr, ⁹⁹ᵐTc (SPECT and PET isotopes); ¹²⁵I, ¹⁶¹Tb, ¹⁶⁶Ho, ¹⁷⁷Lu (therapeutic beta emitters); ²¹²Pb, ²²⁵Ac (alpha emitters); and additional isotopes

Regulatory and Medical Writing

• Regulatory strategy and advisory for radiopharmaceutical IND preparation and submission to Health Canada and the US FDA
• Medical writing services encompassing preclinical study reports, IND module preparation, briefing documents, and regulatory submission packages aligned with radiopharmaceutical-specific guidance frameworks

Scientific and Strategic Advisory Services

• Development strategy advisory for radiopharmaceutical programmes requiring scientific and regulatory navigation from candidate identification through to IND submission and beyond
• Access to a specialist partner network spanning radiochemistry, imaging, preclinical biology, and regulatory affairs
• Personalised project management with end-to-end timeline and milestone oversight by senior-level project managers

Cadena Research occupies a narrowly defined but strategically well-timed position in the preclinical CRO landscape as a radiopharmaceutical-specialist organisation, at a time when industry investment in theranostics and radioligand therapy is accelerating substantially. The radiopharmaceutical sector presents a specific CRO demand profile that generalist preclinical CROs are ill-equipped to serve: licensed hot cell infrastructure, cyclotron access, isotope-specific radiochemistry expertise, and regulatory familiarity with radiopharmaceutical-specific IND requirements are not standard capabilities at most contract research organisations. Cadena Research’s foundation within CPDC — an established and well-regarded Canadian radiopharmaceutical R&D centre — gives it direct access to these infrastructure assets and to a team with deep, domain-specific expertise that would take years and significant capital to replicate. For sponsors developing novel theranostics, alpha-emitting therapeutics, or companion diagnostics, Cadena represents a pragmatic solution to the infrastructure gap that otherwise constrains the rate at which promising radiopharmaceutical candidates can advance towards clinical entry.