TAGWORKS PHARMACEUTICALS BV

Their core work

Tagworks Pharmaceuticals is a Dutch SME specializing in bio-orthogonal chemistry — chemical reactions that work safely inside living organisms. They develop click chemistry-based tools for medical imaging and cancer therapy, particularly PET imaging agents and targeted drug activation. Their work bridges chemistry and medicine, turning lab-level molecular tools into clinical diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Tagworks entered H2020 in 2015 with PRISAR, a project on image-guided surgery and radiotherapy — suggesting an early interest in combining imaging with treatment. From 2016 onward, their focus sharpened around click chemistry and bio-orthogonal reactions, first for PET imaging (Click-It) and then for both therapy (THERACAT) and neurological diagnostics (PET-AlphaSy). The trend is a clear deepening of their core click chemistry platform while broadening its medical applications from oncology into neurodegenerative diseases.

Tagworks is expanding its click chemistry platform from oncology into neurology, suggesting future projects will likely target molecular imaging for brain diseases.

How they like to work

Tagworks has never coordinated an H2020 project — they consistently join as a specialist partner or third party, contributing their proprietary click chemistry expertise to larger consortia. With 39 unique partners across 12 countries from just 4 projects, they integrate into broad international networks rather than leading them. This is typical of a technology SME that provides a specialized capability others need but does not drive the research agenda itself.

Despite only 4 projects, Tagworks has built a surprisingly wide network of 39 partners across 12 countries, reflecting the large MSCA training networks and RIA consortia they join. Their reach spans well beyond the Netherlands into a broad European collaborative footprint.

What sets them apart

Tagworks occupies a rare niche as an SME with deep expertise in bio-orthogonal click chemistry for in vivo medical applications — a field where most players are academic labs, not companies. Their ability to translate click chemistry into both diagnostic imaging and therapeutic activation makes them a versatile partner for any consortium needing chemistry-to-clinic translation. Based in Nijmegen, they sit close to Radboud University's strong chemistry and medical imaging groups, reinforcing their academic-to-industry bridge role.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Click-It
  Largest funding (EUR 1.56M) and most commercially relevant — developing in vivo click PET imaging agents as clinical companion diagnostics, directly applicable to personalized medicine.
• THERACAT
  Represents a therapeutic leap: applying bio-orthogonal catalysis not just for imaging but for activating cancer drugs inside living cells, moving from diagnostics to treatment.
• PET-AlphaSy
  Signals a strategic expansion into neurodegeneration — PET imaging of alpha-synuclein could become a key diagnostic for Parkinson's disease, a major unmet medical need.