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2025: Russia accounts for 60% of the global market for the most demanded isotopes for medical products
Russia produces more than 60% of the total world volume of the lutetium-177 isotope and 50% of the production of actinium-225 - the two most popular radioisotopes for the creation of medicines. The production of lutetium-177 is concentrated in the scientific institutes of the state corporation Rosatom in Dimitrovgrad and Zarechny. More than half of the global production of actinium-225 is located in Obninsk. Russian radionuclide therapy technologies are targeted and fully personalized for a specific patient. This was announced on September 25, 2025 by the director of the Institute of Nuclear Medicine of the A.F. Tsyba Valery Krylov.
According to TASS, in 2021-2025, Russian specialists have made significant progress in the field of nuclear medicine. According to Valery Krylov, domestic developers have made more than many foreign companies that registered their drugs earlier. Russian scientists have improved the production and use of radiopharmaceuticals.
All Russian radionuclide therapy is personalized. Doctors select only such a drug that is suitable for a particular patient, taking into account the peculiarities of his disease. The individual approach allows for significantly higher treatment outcomes compared to standard therapies.
By 2024, the number of diagnostic studies in Russia using radiopharmaceuticals reached almost 1 million procedures. The total number of patients treated with radiopharmaceuticals was about 30 thousand people. More accurate diagnosis of diseases contributes to the adoption of personalized approaches in practical medicine.
The use of radiopharmaceuticals allows doctors to choose an individual approach to each patient. Such a strategy ensures high efficiency of cancer treatment. Personalized therapy increases the quality and life expectancy of patients with various forms of cancer.[1]
2023: Russian oncologists cure last-stage cancer with new radiopharmaceutical
In September 2023, researchers from the Tomsk Research Institute of Oncology, TNIMC RAS presented the results of the successful treatment of stage four prostate cancer. Experts used the radiotherapy drug Lutetium-117 PSMA.
According to experts, this latest technology has made it possible to effectively fight cancer cells and metastases of castrate-resistant prostate cancer even after unsuccessful attempts by other treatments.
On the surface of the prostate is a special enzyme known as PSMA (prostate-specific membrane antigen). It was used by scientists as a target for targeted therapy. With the help of it, the radiopharmaceutical 177Lute purposefully attacked the tumor and metastases.
Prior to using this innovative method, the patient was found to have metastases in the liver, lymph nodes and bone tissue. All of them collected PSMA ligand - molecules that consist of amino acid residues that bind to the membranes of prostate cancer cells and deliver an isotope to them for the purpose of either diagnosis or therapy.
After four courses of treatment, the level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the patient's blood decreased from 41 to 11 ng/ml. Follow-up studies also revealed a significant reduction in the rate of accumulation of PSMA ligand in metastases. The patient reported complete disappearance of pain syndrome and significant improvement in general condition.
Lutetium-177 (Lu-177) is one of the most promising radionuclides that serve as the basis for the production of innovative radiopharmaceuticals. According to experts, drugs with Lu-177 demonstrate high effectiveness in targeted therapy of a number of oncological diseases, among them metastatic forms of castration-resistant prostate cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, lung cancer and others. Lutetium-177 is obtained by irradiating targets in a reactor or on a cyclotron, but the growing global demand for this isotope forces us to look for new ways to obtain it.[2]

