Imagine a smart missile that first scans your body to find a hidden tumor and then delivers a powerful blast to destroy it. This project uses a special radioactive atom called Astatine-211 that acts like a heavy-duty sledgehammer for cancer cells that ignore standard chemo. To solve the problem of these atoms decaying quickly, they are building smaller, hospital-friendly machines to make the medicine right where the patient is.
Current cancer treatments often fail against aggressive brain, breast, and pancreatic tumors. Additionally, the short half-life of potent alpha-emitters makes them nearly impossible to distribute from central factories to hospitals in time.
A new generation of compact cyclotrons for local isotope production and a set of diagnostic/therapeutic radioactive pairs for targeted alpha therapy.
If you are an isotope producer dealing with the short 7h half-life of Astatine-211 — this project developed a new generation of compact cyclotrons that allow for local production in hospitals. This removes the logistical nightmare of long-distance transport for unstable isotopes.
If you are a hardware manufacturer dealing with bulky, expensive particle accelerators — this project developed a more compact and easy-to-use cyclotron. This enables medical staff to operate the equipment directly within a hospital setting.
If you are a clinic dealing with patients who have resistant pancreatic, breast, or brain cancers — this project developed a co-clinical approach to identify the best candidates for alpha therapy. This ensures higher success rates by matching the right patient to the right radioactive pair.
Based on available project data, specific pricing or cost details for the new generation cyclotron are not provided.
The project aims to establish a stable cross-EU supply chain and a resilient scale-up production network for Astatine-211 to ensure wider availability.
Based on available project data, specific IP and licensing terms are not mentioned, though the project involves 3 industry partners and 3 SMEs.
The project focuses on ensuring the manufacturing and treatment infrastructure complies with quality assurance and regulatory guidelines.
The project period runs from 2024-10-01 to 2029-09-30, indicating a five-year development and testing window.
The consortium is well-balanced for translation, featuring 17 partners across 9 countries. With an 18% industry ratio (including 3 SMEs), there is a clear bridge between the 5 universities and 7 research institutes and the commercial market. The leadership by a major hospital center (HU Jules Bordet) ensures that the development of the Astatine-211 supply chain is driven by actual clinical needs.
Contact the Association Hospitaliere de Bruxelles-Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Jules Bordet
Contact us to identify licensing opportunities for Astatine-211 production hardware.
