The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved France-based Advanced Accelerator Applications'
radioactive drug, Lutathera (lutetium Lu 177 dotatate), intended for the treatment of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours, it was reported yesterday.
Now, thanks to a grant from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity, the treatment, which sees a
radioactive drug that targets cancer cells injected, is available in our city.
A mildly
radioactive drug shows up areas where the cells are more active than normal.
A PET-CT scan combines a CT scan - which takes pictures from all around the body and uses a computer to put them together - and a PET scan - which uses a very small amount of an injected
radioactive drug to show structures in the body - into one scan.
This is the first time a
radioactive drug, or radiopharmaceutical, has been approved for the treatment of GEP-NETs, added the company.
Now researchers at the University of Chicago and Argonne (Ill.) National Laboratory have teamed up to tackle ovarian cancer with a new
radioactive drug. Though tests are very preliminary, the drug appears to hold great promise of fighting this and estrogen-dependent cancers.