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A drug that finds tumour cells and carries a radioactive atom that irradiates them from inside the body.
177Lu-DOTATATE (Lutathera, 2018) in neuroendocrine tumours and 177Lu-PSMA-617 (Pluvicto, 2022; pre-chemotherapy label 2025; 2026 label expansion) in prostate cancer are the approved beta-emitter therapies. Pipeline: 177Lu-FAP, 177Lu-PSMA-I&T, 177Lu-NeoB (GRPR), 177Lu-labelled antibodies. Dosimetry-guided personalised dosing is emerging.
177Lu emits beta particles with ~2 mm range and gamma photons for SPECT imaging; the ligand determines biodistribution.
Dependencies are what this technology cannot be delivered without: manufacturing steps, instruments, software, upstream methods. See its full chain on the map.
High-dose radioactive MIBG delivers radiation from inside neuroblastoma cells that take up noradrenaline; used for relapsed disease and tested in upfront therapy. A branded high-specific-activity form, Azedra, was approved for phaeochromocytoma and paraganglioma in 2018 and discontinued in 2024.
A second lutetium radioligand for neuroendocrine tumours that beat the standard pill everolimus in a head-to-head trial and is awaiting an FDA decision.
177Lu-PSMA-I&T is a second PSMA radioligand, chemically different from Pluvicto, that has passed two phase 3 trials on progression but has not yet shown a survival benefit.
A FAP-targeted theranostic pair: one version images almost any solid tumour, the other treats it with radiation.
The PET scan for neuroendocrine tumours that finds far more disease than older scans and confirms eligibility for lutetium radioligand therapy (the theranostic pair).
Iomab-B is Actinium's radioactive antibody that clears the bone marrow before a transplant for older patients with active relapsed acute myeloid leukaemia; the phase 3 SIERRA trial met its primary endpoint but the FDA asked for another study.
Novartis' gallium PSMA scan kit, approved the same day as Pluvicto as the test that qualifies men for that radioactive drug.
Lutetium-177 dotatate was the first modern radioligand therapy (2018), for neuroendocrine tumours, and is now used in first line.
A radioactive drug that seeks out PSMA on prostate cancer cells; the best-selling radiopharmaceutical ever.
The original targeted radiotherapy: thyroid cells soak up iodine, so radioactive iodine destroys leftover thyroid tissue and metastases while sparing everything else.
Quadramet (samarium-153 lexidronam) is a radioactive bone-seeking injection that lodges in bone metastases and irradiates them from inside, approved in 1997 to relieve pain from prostate, breast and other cancers spread to bone. Most patients get relief within one to two weeks, but marrow suppression follows at three to five weeks, and radium-223 and PSMA radioligands have largely replaced it.
Patients newly diagnosed with an advanced grade 2 or 3 neuroendocrine tumour of the gut or pancreas that shows somatostatin receptors on imaging can now receive lutetium dotatate as their first treatment, gaining more than a year of additional disease control and a much higher chance of tumour shrinkage. It does not settle whether radioligand therapy is better than other first-line options such as capecitabine-temozolomide or everolimus, and long-term marrow safety with earlier use needs surveillance.
This is the paper Europe PMC returns for registry id NCT03392428 with the most citations, so it is the natural first reading for anyone following the TheraP trial. Read the abstract above alongside the trial page and the registry entry; the record was linked automatically and its figures have not been checked by hand.
Men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer that has progressed after hormonal therapy and chemotherapy, and whose tumours show PSMA on a PET scan, can now receive lutetium-PSMA, which extends life, controls pain and is usually better tolerated than further chemotherapy. It has established a new treatment class in which a scan decides who gets the matching radioactive drug, and it is now being tested earlier in the disease (PSMAfore, PSMAddition).
It is the anatomical basis for PSMA imaging and PSMA radioligand therapy, and it predicted two of the practical problems three decades early: salivary, lacrimal and renal uptake as sources of toxicity, and falling expression in dedifferentiated disease as the reason some men are ineligible for treatment.
Query for this technology: (TITLE:"radioligand therapy" OR ABSTRACT:"radioligand therapy" OR TITLE:"peptide receptor radionuclide therapy" OR ABSTRACT:"peptide receptor radionuclide therapy" OR TITLE:"lutetium-177" OR ABSTRACT:"lutetium-177" OR TITLE:"177Lu" OR ABSTRACT:"177Lu"). Results are unfiltered search hits about Radioligand therapy (beta emitters), not a curated reading list.
Shares Curanosticum Wiesbaden-Frankfurt, A Study of 177Lu-FAP-2286 in Advanced Solid Tumors, An Open-label Study Comparing Lutetium (177Lu) Vipivotide Tetraxetan Versus Observation in PSMA Positive OMPC., Anti-tumour Activity of (177Lu) rhPSMA-10.1 Injection.
Shares Study to Evaluate Safety and Dosimetry of Lutathera in Adolescent Patients With GEP-NETs and PPGLs, An Open-label Study Comparing Lutetium (177Lu) Vipivotide Tetraxetan Versus Observation in PSMA Positive OMPC., Mariana Oncology, Study of Lutetium (177Lu) Vipivotide Tetraxetan in mCRPC Participants With Moderately and Severely Impaired and With Normal Renal Function.
Shares GRPR (gastrin-releasing peptide receptor), Evergreen Theragnostics, Wolfgang A. Weber, Johannes Czernin.
Shares Cancer biotherapy & radiopharmaceuticals, Iomab-B, Study of Iomab-B vs. Conventional Care in Older Subjects With Active, Relapsed or Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Abdera Therapeutics.
Shares Gallium-68 DOTATATE (and Cu-64 DOTATATE), Esthesioneuroblastoma (olfactory neuroblastoma), Hereditary pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (SDHx, VHL, RET, NF1, MAX and TMEM127), Grade 3 well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumour.
Shares Build Western ytterbium-176 enrichment so lutetium-177 has more than one supplier, 177Lu-edotreotide, Lutetium 177Lu-Edotreotide Versus Best Standard of Care in Well-differentiated Aggressive Grade-2 and Grade-3 GastroEnteroPancreatic NeuroEndocrine Tumors (GEP-NETs) - COMPOSE, Therapeutic isotope supply chain (Mo-99, Lu-177, Ac-225).
Shares Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Lutathera in Patients With Grade 2 and Grade 3 Advanced GEP-NET, 177Lu-edotreotide, Lutetium 177Lu-Edotreotide Versus Best Standard of Care in Well-differentiated Aggressive Grade-2 and Grade-3 GastroEnteroPancreatic NeuroEndocrine Tumors (GEP-NETs) - COMPOSE, SPECT & bone scan.
Shares ECLIPSE, Samarium-153 lexidronam, 177Lu-PSMA-I&T, Radiopharmacy and cyclotron networks.