Knowledgebase

To promote collaboration and to inspire one another, FIELD-LAB hosted a partner meeting on the 26th of March at the Veranda in Amstelveen. Delegates of all partners were present to inform their fellow participants about their projects and share their expertise.

In a significant achievement for the field of radionuclide production, a dedicated team consisting of scientists of NRG|PALLAS and Future Chemistry, has successfully completed the SAT for their state-of-the-art, custom made Lu-177 no carrier added (n.c.a.) preparative High Performance Liquid Chromatography (prep-HPLC) system.

Last week, we gladly hosted the 33rd NKRV workshop at our premises in Petten. The mission of this Dutch Society for Clinical Radiochemistry (NKRV) is to stimulate research and education in radio(pharmaceutical)chemistry as well as the application of radiopharmaceuticals in the clinic.

After years of preparation, the FIELD-LAB facility in Petten, the Netherlands, has officially opened its doors on 7 December. This brand new facility will help accelerate the development of new nuclear medicines for the treatment of cancer.

NRG and TerThera signed an agreement for irradiation services in the High Flux Reactor in Petten, the Netherlands to produce Terbium-161. The non-carrier-added (NCA) Terbium-161 is produced by neutron irradiation of highly enriched Gadolinium-160 targets in the Dutch research reactor. 

New essential analysis equipment for Quality Control has been installed in FIELD-LAB. This equipment will be used to perform measurements on isotopes, produced by FIELD-LAB in the near future, to establish if the isotope is up to GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standards and, consequently, can be used in patients.

Already in 2001, NRG supported the development of Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy with carrier added Lutetium-177 (Lu-177 c.a.) by the supply of Lutetium-177 trichloride as a radiochemical. Nowadays, Lu-177 no carrier added is preferably used. “Lu-177 n.c.a. has a higher specific activity and thus radiolabeling efficiency, than lu-177 c.a.”, according to Marion Chomet, lead scientist at FIELD-LAB. Chomet and her colleagues are now fine-tuning and finalizing their custom made lutetium-177 n.c.a. process. But there are several challenges and practical considerations that they are facing.

Kansen voor West visited FIELD-LAB in Petten last Wednesdag 9 November. Kansen voor West (Opportunities for West) is one of the larger subsidy providers of this project and every year they choose one of their projects for a workvisit.

The major bottleneck for research and development of radiopharmaceuticals for targeted alpha therapy is its limited availability. The irradiation of radium-226 could be a game changer as the amounts produced using this method could fulfill the market needs for alpha-emitters. However, there are several challenges in 226Ra target preparation and further processing of irradiated targets.

During the NVNG Spring Conference of last Friday our R&D manager Karlijn van der Schilden provided insight into the current developments of NRGǀPALLAS in the field of developing new production routes for existing and new isotopes. With inextricably linked the subject of securing availability and supply.