First patient dosed with electron accelerator-produced copper in neuroblastoma study
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
The first patient has been dosed in a clinical trial with electron accelerator-produced Cu-67, according to a Wisconsin-based company specializing in radiopharmaceuticals for therapeutic and medical imaging applications announced.
NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes LLC said in a press release that the dosing occurred within an ongoing phase 1/2a theranostic clinical trial conducted by Clarity Pharmaceuticals to investigate safety and efficacy of Cu-67 sartate in children diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma.
A partnership between NorthStar and Clarity intends to join the former’s high-activity, high specific-activity and high-purity Cu-67 for use in the former’s theranostic clinical trials examining safety and efficacy of 67Cu sartate, 67Cu SAR-bisPSMA and 67Cu SAR-Bombesin, per the release.
“The fact that the initial human use of NorthStar’s electron accelerator-produced Cu-67 is in a clinical trial designed to treat children with high-risk neuroblastoma underscores the importance of our work in advancing innovation to promote patient health,” NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes’ President and CEO Frank Scholz, PhD, said in the release.
NorthStar’s radioisotope has proven suitable for radiolabeling of Clarity’s products using their proprietary SAR Technology platform, the company said, as it contains SAR chelators, cage-like structures that securely hold copper radioisotopes. According to the release, unlike traditional chelators, SAR chelators prevent leakage of copper isotopes into the body. Once securely attached to a targeting molecule, the chelated Cu-67 delivers radiation to destroy cancer cells without significantly damaging healthy tissue.
“Large-scale manufacture of therapeutic Cu-67 from highly efficient, environmentally preferable electron accelerators is critical to overcome the widespread supply issues in the radiopharmaceutical industry,” Clarity Executive Chairman Alan Taylor, PhD, said in the release. “Clarity continues to recruit higher numbers of participants at increasingly higher activities of Cu-67 across all three of our therapeutic clinical trials.”