Past, Present and Future Radiotracer Techniques: Radiopharmaceuticals in Cancer Theranostics: 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Following its tradition of publishing Special Issues on selected and highly interesting topics, the journal “Pharmaceuticals” is planning to launch a new Special Issue on the topic “Past, Present and Future Radiotracer Techniques: Radiopharmaceuticals in Cancer Theranostics”, second edition.

More than five years ago, [¹⁷⁷Lu]Lu-DOTA-TATE (Lutathera^®) was approved by both the EMA and the FDA as the first radiopharmaceutical for Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy (PRRT) of neuroendocrine tumors (NET) while joining its diagnostic counter-partner [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-DOTA-TOC (SomaKit TOC^®, TOCscan^®). A further success story was represented by the approval of [¹⁷⁷Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 (Pluvicto^®) to various diagnostic counter-partners like [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 (Locametz^®/Illuccix^®/Gozellix^TM/Isoprotrace^®) or [¹⁸F]DCFPyL (Pylarify^®/Pylclari^®) for the treatment of prostate cancer. Both radiotherapeutics are prime examples for the successful application of targeted radionuclide therapy (TRNT) in modern cancer management.

However, the aforementioned theranostic pairs can only supply a limited number of cancer patients and, therefore, the development of new radiotracers and/or radiopharmaceuticals for various targets and cancer types is further ongoing. Such a developmental chain usually takes a couple of years and involves a variety of different steps from synthesis of the labeling precursor and reference compounds, optimization of radiolabeling and pre-clinical evaluations to the development of automated GMP compliant synthesis and quality control, first-in-human studies and various clinical trials. All these essential steps can be covered in the Special Issue. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Development and pre-clinical evaluation of diagnostic tracers and radiotherapeutic pharmaceuticals
• Establishment and validation of GMP compliant synthesis and quality control
• Translation into clinics: first-in-human studies, clinical trials

Please refer also to the list of keywords.

We cordially invite you to submit research as well as review articles to this Special Issue and look forward to reading your articles.

You may also take a look at our first edition at:

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/pharmaceuticals/special_issues/KDJ9NFKU7C.

Dr. Ute Hennrich
Dr. Martina Benešová-Schäfer
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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