The U.K. Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) said it welcomed the government’s recent announcement of an initiative to harvest lead-212 for cancer treatment from reprocessed uranium obtained from spent nuclear reactor fuel.
The government posted the announcement on 16 December and noted that the initiative is made possible due to a landmark agreement between Cambridge-based biotech firm Bicycle Therapeutics and the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). Under the agreement, the NDA will provide Bicycle with access to up to 400 tons of material over 15 years. Bicycle will extract lead-212 with a novel radioisotope generator developed for the purpose by Spectron Rx.
“We welcome this announcement to produce cutting-edge cancer treatments in the U.K. so more patients can benefit," said RCR President Dr. Stephen Harden. "Molecular radiotherapy is a highly effective treatment that works by delivering radioactive drugs directly to tumors without damaging healthy tissue."
Unfortunately, its rollout has been stalled by disruption in the supply of radiopharmaceuticals, which the U.K. has relied on importing from abroad, he added.
To improve access to the new therapy even further, the government should clarify that it should be treated as a radiotherapy rather than a drug, which would speed up rollout by determining how the treatment is funded, quality assured, and delivered safely, the RCR advised.
