Industrial Applications and Chemistry Section
DEVELOPMENT OF RADIOISOTOPE PRODUCTS FOR MEDICAL AND INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS
Objectives:
To enable Member States to benefit from radioisotope products by strengthening national capability to establish the necessary infrastructure and qualified personnel.
Radioisotope products are basic to several applications. The potential for the expansion of radioisotope applications and of increasing the benefits to developing countries continues to be high. Interest in establishing medical cyclotrons for radioisotope production is growing in many developing countries. For centres which do not have cyclotrons, the use of generator systems can be a method of deriving the benefits of PET in clinical practice. For centres which do have a cyclotron devoted to PET radioisotope production, other interesting diagnostic agents can be produced with low/medium energy cyclotrons. While the use of the popular product F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) covers most of the PET applications, efforts to develop and introduce other PET tracers, including the development and use of Ge-68-Ga-68 and other generator systems for metabolic and molecular imaging, are being actively pursued. There is a need for the development of cost effective process modules for the more important radionuclides and their labelled compounds. Support is needed to enhance the utilization of cyclotron and national radioisotope processing facilities, particularly for R&D activities driven by the needs of the medical sector.
In the area of radionuclide therapy, the emphasis will be on the products of lutetium-177, following on the Agency's efforts in recent years in evaluating a number of products and, in collaboration with the Human Health programme, for their possible deployment for clinical use. Development support for the reliable production of therapeutic radionuclides of adequate specific activity and high purity and carrier molecules for targeted therapy is essential. Activities to foster the development of practical therapeutic radiopharmaceutical products will be pursued and one new project on cost effective radiopharmaceutical development will complement a project in the Human Health programme on clinical applications.
In collaboration with the subprogramme on research reactors support is envisaged for the development of methods for the local production of molybdenum-99 using LEU targets for chromatographic Technetium-99m generators and neutron activation of molybdenum oxide targets for technetium-99m gel generators.
The Agency's role in capacity building in the utilization of radioisotope products is well known, and most developing Member States and emerging market countries look forward to the guidance and recommendations resulting from Agency's contributions. It would be therefore appropriate to foster the development of promising radioisotope products and techniques in selected areas to enhance the capability for development of radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals using indigenous resources, while continuing to support technology transfer of established ones through TC projects.
