On Target Laboratories

On Target Laboratories, based in West Lafayette, Indiana, founded in 2010 and backed by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, is the Purdue spin-out that developed Cytalux, the fluorescent dye that shows ovarian and lung cancer deposits during surgery. Its pafolacianine, sold as Cytalux, was approved by the FDA in 2021 for ovarian cancer and in 2022 for lung lesions, the first targeted fluorescent imaging agents for intraoperative use, and the company is developing further folate receptor and other targeted optical agents. OnCo links it to ovarian and non-small-cell lung cancer, fluorescence-guided surgery and optical imaging, and to the pafolacianine record. Whether finding more deposits during surgery improves outcomes, not just completeness of resection, is the open question. Pafolacianine has its own page.