In collaboration with researchers from ICNAS/ University of Coimbra in Portugal, IBA has filed a patent application for the liquid target production and purification of Ga-68 on a medium energy cyclotron - the IBA Cyclone® 18 - to produce high purity Ga-68 ready for labelling of radiopharmaceuticals suitable for human injection. The production of Ga-68 from a liquid target could enable hundreds of cyclotrons worldwide to produce the isotope, thus promoting the widespread use Ga-68 radiopharmaceuticals. Other advantages of using liquid targets to produce Ga-68 include:
- Process is similar to F-18 production allowing a seamless automation on Synthera® platform
- Liquid-target produced Ga-68 is compliant with current Eur. Ph. and production can be easily adapted to GMP processes
- Production is very cost effective and easily adapted for in-house use or distribution