Comparative Evaluation of Therapeutic Radiopharmaceuticals

Abstract

Radionuclide therapy employing unsealed radiotherapeutic agents has emerged as an important tool for cancer management. The development of therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals based on different types of carrier molecule and a variety of radioisotopes is being actively pursued worldwide. There have been many significant advances in this field, and many of the technical problems involved in labelling biomolecules with a variety of radionuclides have been solved. However, the assessment of the relative effectiveness of different radiopharmaceuticals for cancer therapy is a difficult task owing to the large number of variables that must be considered, some related to the biological carrier and others to the radioisotope. Comparing the therapeutic efficacy in patients is not feasible in most cases for ethical and regulatory reasons. Hence, it is important to develop laboratory methods that can be used for reliable and efficient comparative evaluation of promising therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals.