{"id":53442,"date":"2024-08-19T09:26:48","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T08:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.almacgroup.com\/api-chemical-development\/?page_id=53442"},"modified":"2025-11-19T09:22:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T09:22:52","slug":"radiopharmaceuticals","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.almacgroup.com\/api-chemical-development\/radiopharmaceuticals\/","title":{"rendered":"Radiopharmaceutical Precursors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Radiopharmaceuticals are specialised drugs containing radioactive isotopes used for both diagnosing and treating various diseases, particularly cancers, by targeting specific cells within the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radiolabelled peptides have shown increasing utility in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The tumour-targeting peptide can be combined with radionuclides including 68<\/sup>Ga for imaging (diagnostics) or 177<\/sup>Lu \/ 225 <\/sup>Ac \/ 212<\/sup>Pb for therapy (therapeutics). Many of these peptides can be used for either approach leading to the concept of theranostics<\/em>.  \u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almac has intimate knowledge of all the required steps to progress a peptide radiopharmaceutical from initial concept to your first in human testing, and through your entire clinical journey. We have ongoing programs from Phase 0 through to Process Validation, and supported a commercial radiopharmaceutical launch in 2023.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Peptides offer unique advantages as vectors for theranostics applications:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Tumours often overexpress peptide receptors in comparison to healthy tissue.\u200b<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Tumour peptide uptake is rapid compared to antibodies and they are often internalised upon binding to their receptor leading to high concentrations of radionuclide at the target site. \u200b<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Unlike traditional drugs cellular internalisation is not an absolute requirement of the targeting molecule;  a non-internalising antagonist can exert its effect for imaging or therapy whilst bound on the outside of the cell. \u200b<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Unbound peptides are readily cleared through the kidneys, leading to better image quality (contrast) and lower off-target toxicity in therapy, compared to antibodies.\u200b<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Peptides are routinely synthesised using automated solid phase peptide synthesis and they can tolerate the harsh conditions required for radiolabelling (low pH; high temperature).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Peptides can be modified to incorporate unnatural amino acids, cyclization, PEGylation etc. to prolong half-life in vivo.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Crucially, a large choice of metal chelators can be incorporated at virtually any position in the peptide structure to fine-tune binding activity, PK distribution, and clearance profile; and to accommodate different radiometals for different cancer diseases goals. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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