NRG|PALLAS Started The First Irradiation Cycle Of 2024 For Lutetium

Last week, NRG|PALLAS (ENS Corporate Member) announced the launch of the first cycle of irradiation of the year focusing on lutetium for medical applications.

The Dutch company, operating the High Flux Reactor in Petten (The Netherlands), said the cycle started on 19 January, with the reactor typically running 8 to 9 production cycles annually, supplying radioisotopes for treating a third of patients worldwide.

Lutetium-177 is currently used in hospitals to treat neuroendocrine tumours. Neuroendocrine cells are found primarily in the organs of the digestive system, including the stomach, pancreas and intestines.

Among other things, lutetium-177 is a very promising radioisotope used in the fight against prostate cancer and dozens of other applications in the near future.

Furthermore, the need for lutetium-177 is expected to grow exponentially: from 16,000 patients in 2020 to 138,000 patients in 2026.

The new FIELD-LAB – a drug discovery facility that will help NRG|PALLAS to speed up the development and market launch of new nuclear drugs for cancer treatment – aims at expanding the company’s capabilities to conduct research on lutetium for innovative treatment methods, particularly in collaboration with university medical centres.

Read the full NRG|PALLAS Press Release (in Dutch) and the story on NucNet (in English)

In September 2023, the Dutch Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport Ernst Kuipers announced that there is full financing for the construction of the PALLAS reactor.

The construction of this new reactor, replacing the ageing High Flux Reactor, would be fundamental for many patients with often life-threatening diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

This decision is confirmation that the PALLAS reactor is of strategic importance for the Netherlands and Europe. It will strengthen the security of medical isotopes supply for nuclear medicine. For patients, it means faster access to innovative (cancer) treatments.

said Bertholt Leeftink, CEO NRG|PALLAS.