by
Lauren Dubinsky, Senior Reporter | June 17, 2014
From the June 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Triad started as an alliance of three to five radiopharmacies and through acquisitions, has grown to be the second largest radiopharmaceutical supply company in the U.S. However, Triad’s main focus is on low energy, or SPECT radiopharmaceuticals. According to Dave Wilson, vice president of PET operations for the company, Triad does have some production capabilities for PET isotopes via the four cyclotrons Triad currently runs that were owned by radiopharmacies the company acquired. The cyclotrons are seeing some extra use due in part to a partnership with IBA. “We’ve expanded our relationship and we’re working with them as a subcontractor to provide FDG for some of their customers,” says Wilson.
Wilson says the four cyclotrons serve the Southeast U.S. market.
Meanwhile, UPPI is a GPO, basically an association of independent commercial radiopharmacies and university radiopharmacies that provides uniform doses of SPECT and PET labeled products.
According to company president, John Wintowski, the GPO consists of 83 radiopharmacies, which serve several hundred accounts. The organization does delve into radiopharmaceutical research and development and Wintowski says they’re particularly excited about PET cardiac applications, but they still are working on developing them.
As for supply of PET, Winkowski says the 12 cyclotrons act as “hubs” with another 20 UPPI members with hot boxes acting as “spokes” to cover much of the country with the exception being the far West.
Option two — purchasing your own cyclotron
Although the majority of facilities in the U.S order from a nuclear pharmacy, it’s not the best option for every facility. For many large academic centers the best option might be to purchase a cyclotron.
Webster says there are four reasons why a large academic center might want to have their own cyclotron. They may want it for particle accelerator research, they lack access to a nuclear pharmacy within a reasonable delivery distance for standard PET radiopharmaceuticals, or to provide their own source of approved PET radiopharmaceuticals.
However, the most likely reason for having an onsite cyclotron is that researchers want to develop new and interesting PET-based radiopharmaceuticals, also called short-lived PET isotopes or solid target isotopes.
Through a partnership with Cardinal Health, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis., for example, made the decision to buy their own cyclotron to advance research in the molecular imaging field.
