July 11, 2018 — Canadian nuclear power company Bruce Power and German-based Isotope Technologies Garching (ITG) signed an agreement to explore the production of the medical radioisotope no-carrier-added (n.c.a.) Lutetium-177. Lutetium-177 is used in targeted radionuclide therapy to treat cancers like neuroendocrine tumors and prostate cancer. It destroys cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unaffected.
Bruce Power is a source of medical radioisotopes, and ITG is a subsidiary of Isotopen Technologien München (ITM), a specialized radiopharmaceutical group of companies. The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the production of n.c.a. Lutetium-177 at the Bruce Power Site. Bruce Power runs commercially operating reactors (CANDU reactors), that allow the company to meet global supply needs of Lutetium-177 through 2064. Furthermore, ITM has developed a unique methodology to produce a special form of Lutetium-177, n.c.a. Lutetium-177, which the company supplies globally under the brand name EndolucinBeta. Because n.c.a. Lutetium-177 contains no metastable long-lived Lutetium-177m impurities, it provides the highest specific activity of all forms of the Lutetium-177 radioisotope. Its high level of radionuclidic purity ensures more effective and economical waste management, better environmental sustainability and the best preconditions for the radiolabeling of biomolecules.
This partnership aims to meet the medical community’s growing demand for radionuclides for use in targeted radionuclide therapies. N.c.a. Lutetium-177 will be produced at Bruce Power’s CANDU reactors while development, processing and global distribution of n.c.a. Lutetium-177 will be managed by ITM.
For more information: www.isotope-technologies-munich.com, www.brucepower.com