PETNet Indiana, IUSM form partnership to benefit Hoosier patients’ PET scans

PETNet Indiana, LLC, is one of two radiopharmaceutical companies in Indiana to produce radio-labeled agents for hospitals to use in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. PET scans are commonly used for cancer diagnosis and to test for patient response to cancer treatments. Because the agent contains a radioactive isotope that loses its potency as time lapses, it is essential the pharmaceutical be produced and delivered to the hospital in a relatively short time frame.

PETNet and IUSM have entered into a joint venture to produce radiopharm-aceuticals. The operation began in February, in the basement of IU Hospital, but has since moved into the more spacious quarters of the new Biotechnology Research and Training Center (BRTC), said Gary Hutchins, director of imaging science and vice chairman of research in the IU Department of Radiology.

The BRTC houses a new medical cyclotron—one of three in the state—used to produce the isotopes, which then are attached to glucose-like molecules. The primary clinical product is called fluorodeoxyglucose or FDG. It is injected into patients for use in a PET scan to show if and where the cancer is growing in the body. Active, dividing cells are then highlighted on the PET scan. Glucose serves as food for the rapidly growing cells, and the cells use the FDG in a similar way to the way they use glucose. The resulting image shows the rate of glucose utilization; rapidly growing cells, such as tumors or malignancies, need more “fuel” and thus produce “hot spots” on the PET scan.

Steve Piepenbrink, manager of PETNet Indiana, said the central Indiana location is ideal since the isotope is shipped by courier in lead-lined containers. Because the half-life of this radioactive isotope is two hours, the central location is additionally important.

A standard dose of the FDG for a PET scan is 15 millicurie, Piepenbrink said. If a patient is scheduled to receive the test six hours after the isotope is made, then 145 millicuries have to be couriered to the hospital to accommodate the dosage and the two-hour half-life of the product. If hospitals are too far away, the delivery becomes more complicated.

The distribution process to hospitals and clinics in Indiana and border areas of contiguous states is monitored closely by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Hutchins said the PETNet collaboration is ideal. “It enables IUSM to maximize the use of a rare resource, the medical cyclotron, to support the clinical needs of patients throughout Indiana and the research needs of the school,” he said.

Hutchins and his colleagues also use the cyclotron to produce novel radiopharma-ceuticals that enable advanced study of cell and organ function in disease.

http://www.petnetpharmaceutical.com

http://www.indyrad.iupui.edu/imgsci/divs/html2.html