UC receives landmark approval for distribution of gallium-68, an essential isotope in cancer diagnosis

^{Translation by Diana Taborda}

The UC company ICNAS-P has been granted a licence to market GalliUC, a gallium-68 formulation produced in particle accelerators (cyclotrons) that will transform the use of this isotope in cancer diagnosis.

INFARMED granted this licence, the first in Europe for gallium-68 and the first in the world in such a process, which included the need for a new European Pharmacopoeia monograph specifically focused on the production of gallium-68 in cyclotrons.

Gallium-68 is an isotope used in positron emission tomography (PET) scans for oncological diagnosis, in particular of neuroendocrine tumours and prostate cancer.

According to the Rector of the University of Coimbra, Amílcar Falcão, this licence represents "another step in the assertion of the international work developed by the UC in the field of nuclear sciences applied to health".

Since 2013, ICNAS-P has been distributing radiopharmaceuticals for PET, prepared with gallium-68 and produced in generators.

As a result of its research, the University of Coimbra has developed a gallium-68 production process based on cyclotrons, which makes it possible to "increase the daily production capacity by up to 10 times, thus meeting the needs of hospitals for this essential isotope", according to Antero Abrunhosa, researcher and director of ICNAS-P.

This new gallium-68 production process has been patented by the UC and licensed to the Belgian multinational IBA Radiopharma Solutions, the European leader in cyclotron manufacturing, which will market the product worldwide. "The royalties from the licensing of the patent, as well as from the distribution of isotopes and radiopharmaceuticals, will be used entirely to support research activities in this field at the UC," adds Antero Abrunhosa.