Highlights 2022 - Nuclear medicine
SCK CEN enhanced the battle against cancer – the disease that affects around 20 million people every year – in 2022. Medical radioisotopes are helping to diagnose and combat the disease all the more often. We raised the pace of our quest for therapies based on radioisotopes. We are also guaranteeing reliable isotope production, including with the spin-off PanTera – which will make actinium-225 widely accessible
'A hub with expertise across the research field'
SCK CEN accelerates scientific quest against cancer
For years, SCK CEN has acted as an indispensable production hub for medical radioisotopes. 'We will continue to fulfil that role, but we also cherish the ambition of evolving into a pharmaceutical player in pre-clinical research,' says Koen Hasaers of the Nuclear Medical Applications research group. The nuclear research centre combines partner missions with its own cancer research line focused on three cancers, and pilot production for five promising radioisotopes.
'A journey around the world in a race against time'
BR2 as vital production hub for 11 million patients
Belgian Reactor 2 (BR2) is the lifeblood of nuclear medicine. Without that research reactor, one in three medical procedures worldwide involving radioisotopes would come to a halt. 'We bear a great responsibility and make every effort to ensure reliable delivery at all times.'
Ambitious step in the battle against cancer
PanTera offers access to the ’rarest drug on earth’
In 2022, SCK CEN celebrated the birth of PanTera. The spin-off from SCK CEN and IBA will enhance Belgium as an internationally leading country in nuclear medicine. PanTera will supply researchers and pharmaceutical companies with actinium-225 of pharmaceutical quality at a large scale. The start-up aims to make the first steps towards its innovative production facility as early as 2024.
The tools of a 'pioneer'
To mark out the path of the future and pave the way to 2040, we need the right tools. This is why we make targeted investments in:
