A new facility is under construction in the Belgian province of Antwerp to develop an extremely rare cancer medicine.
When we refer to “cancer medicine”, in this case we mean a radioactive product known as actinium-225. The Belgian company PanTera has been given the green light to prepare the facility. The radioactive product enables a tailor-made attack of cancer cells by hitting them with high radiation while largely sparing the neighbouring non-cancerous cells.
So how do they make this product that sounds straight out of a Superman movie? They use what they refer to as “the photonuclear or ‘gamma’ route” to transform the element radium into actinium. Before the announcement of this facility, they were already producing actinium-225 via a different route, through a substance known as thorium. To secure the new process, the company had to be granted both nuclear and environmental permits to ensure everything would be up to the highest standards.
This new facility aimed at producing actinium-225 is another fine example of Belgium showing leadership when it comes to the fight against cancer and is a hopeful leap for precision medicine.
