GE HealthCare’s acquisition of SOFIE Biosciences, a US contract manufacturer with 15 sites and 21 cyclotrons that mainly produce fluorine-18 (F-18) tracers, is the latest move by a PET scanner maker into the radiopharmaceutical supply. Because F-18 loses half its activity every 110 minutes, doses must be made close by and delivered within hours, making manufacturing as strategic as owning the tracers, according to GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform.

Ashley Clarke, Senior Medical Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “GE HealthCare has flagged its reliance on contract manufacturers as a business risk, which this deal addresses. SOFIE already manufactures Flyrcado, GE HealthCare’s cardiac PET agent. Owning a network while retaining other partners secures capacity, supporting its $500 million revenue target for Flyrcado in 2028 and the launch of SOFIE’s pipeline agent, FAPI-74. It also mirrors the model Siemens Healthineers has run successfully for two decades through PETNET, now Siemens Healthineers Radiopharma.”

SOFIE also makes Lantheus’ Pylarify for prostate cancer and Neuraceq, a rival to GE HealthCare’s amyloid agent, Vizamyl. Lantheus earned over $1 billion from the two in 2025, and with Curium acquiring Lantheus for up to $8 billion, GE HealthCare will soon produce key products for a newly enlarged competitor. Lantheus is already defending its lead with Pylarify TruVu, a reformulated version of its prostate cancer agent. The scale gap makes this deal about reducing risk rather than winning share.

Clarke continues: “As molecules face more competition, value is moving toward whoever can make and deliver tracers. A network of qualified sites decides how quickly any new agent reaches patients, and contract fees mean GE HealthCare earns revenue regardless of which agent wins. Still, Lantheus uses more than 60 qualified sites for Pylarify, so SOFIE is only one of many suppliers.”

SOFIE adds contract manufacturing to GE HealthCare’s long-standing cyclotron sales, which enable hospitals to make their own doses. GE HealthCare’s MINItrace Magni received a European CE mark shortly after the SOFIE deal was announced, showing both channels are a priority. On-site production avoids decay, but its cost limits it mainly to large or remote centers, so most sites will keep buying from networks like SOFIE.

Clarke concludes: “Better supply can widen access, particularly for sites beyond today’s delivery reach, but volumes will only grow as fast as scanner capacity allows. The signals to watch are the TruVu rollout, Flyrcado’s ramp-up, FAPI-74’s Phase III results, and regulatory reviews of both deals, which are expected to close in the first half of 2027.”