New SPECT Radiotracers

On the SPECT front, FDA in March approved a new indication for GE Healthcare’s agent AdreView (iobenguane I-123) as the first agent to link nerve function in the heart to a patient’s mortality risk. AdreView is approved for the scintigraphic assessment of myocardial sympathetic innervation (cardiac nerve activity) to assist in the evaluation of patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class II or Class III heart failure and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ? 35 percent. Increased myocardial sympathetic activity is a prominent feature of heart failure and is often associated with decline in LV function, worsening heart failure symptoms and sudden cardiac death.  This increase leads to a depletion of norepinephrine (NE) storage and uptake. AdreView provides a means for assessing the neuronal capacity for uptake of NE.

In January, Lantheus began shipments of its new LEU TechneLite generator, which is the first technetium-99m (Tc-99m) generator in the United States that contains molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) produced from at least 95 percent low-enriched uranium (LEU). Through its supply chain diversification strategy, Lantheus plans to eventually eliminate the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU)-sourced Mo-99 from its supply chain. This is also in part due to a federal effort to eventually reduce the availability of HEU to aid interventional efforts to stop nuclear weapons proliferation.