ITM and ILL Extend Collaboration on the Manufacturing and Supply of Medical Lutetium-177 Radioisotope
ITM Isotope Technologies Munich SE (ITM) and Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) today announced an extension of their collaboration for medical radioisotope production , originally established in 2009.
Handling of radioactive materials during the medical radioisotope production process at the ILL
Under the terms of the renewed agreement, ITM will receive priority access to half of the available neutron irradiation capacity at the ILL’s High-Flux Reactor, its neutron irradiation facility, for the production of non-carrier-added Lutetium-177 (n.c.a. 177Lu), a critical medical radioisotope used for radiopharmaceutical therapies for cancer treatment and diagnosis. As the globally leading manufacturer of n.c.a. Lutetium-177, ITM is committed to maintaining and expanding its robust manufacturing and production capabilities to meet the growing demand for this vital medical radioisotope.
“ITM and ILL’s longstanding partnership began in 2009 when the radiopharmaceutical industry was still in its infancy,” commented Andrew Cavey, CEO of ITM. “Our priority access to ILL’s renowned high-flux irradiation services is incredibly important as the demand for n.c.a. Lutetium-177 grows and as our radiopharmaceutical pipeline evolves.”
The high neutron flux of ILL’s reactor will provide ITM with a high yield of Lutetium-177, and allows for a particularly sustainable production of the medical radioisotope by minimizing usage of the scarce precursor raw material, Ytterbium-176 (Yb-176).
Cherenkov radiation in the ILL reactor pool (Photo: J.L. Baudet).
The provision of radioisotopes to ITM plays a significant role in enabling geographic and industrial return from ILL to its funding countries, fostering innovation and supporting advancements in radiopharmaceutical research and production.
Ken Andersen, Director of the Institut Laue-Langevin added, “ILL operates the world-leading neutron source for research by neutron scattering and in nuclear and particle physics. Moreover, ILL’s reactor provides irradiation positions at exceptionally high neutron flux that are exploited both for fundamental research and the production of radionuclides for medical applications. ILL is proud of the longstanding collaboration with ITM, regularly performing irradiations of Yb-176 targets for ITM over the last 15 years, and looks forward to an even closer partnership in the coming years.”
Radiopharmaceutical Therapy (RPT) is an emerging class of cancer therapeutics, which seeks to deliver radiation directly to the tumor while minimizing radiation exposure to healthy tissue. Targeted radiopharmaceuticals are created by linking a therapeutic radioisotope such as Lutetium-177 or Actinium-225 to a targeting molecule (e.g., peptide, antibody, small molecule) that can precisely recognize tumor cells and bind to tumor-specific characteristics, such as receptors on the tumor cell surface. As a result, the radioisotope accumulates at the tumor site and decays, releasing a small amount of ionizing radiation, with the goal of destroying tumor tissue. The precise localization enables targeted treatment with potentially minimal impact to healthy surrounding tissue.