NRG receives funding for nuclear medicine R&D centre

The contribution by the Kansen voor West (which translates as Opportunities for the West) organisation is from the European Fund for Regional Development (EFRO). NRG - operator of the EU's High Flux Reactor at Petten in the Netherlands - said the contribution would "help to intensify and accelerate FIELD-LAB development and implementation".

NRG's seven partners in the Advancing Nuclear Medicine consortium include various Dutch academic medical centres and industrial partners: the Netherlands Cancer Institute - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Stichting Voorbereiding Pallas, Radboudumc, Erasmus MC, Amsterdam UMC, NucMed and FutureChemistry. The proposal is also supported internationally by 15 organisations, including the German Cancer Research Centre and BTG, a Canadian pharmaceutical company.

NRG said FIELD-LAB is "a unique breeding ground for the development of new nuclear medicine, which are expected to take an increasing role in the personalised treatment of life-threatening diseases like cancer".

It describes FIELD-LAB as "a combination of nuclear infrastructure, partly existing, partly new, in combination with NRG's nuclear knowledge and expertise and the medical knowledge, expertise and product ideas of FIELD-LAB partners - 'a one-stop-shop' - that aims to enable and shorten the development and introduction of new nuclear medicine solutions and radiopharmaceutical drugs. In FIELD-LAB, companies and knowledge institutes can work together and combine their academic knowledge to execute radiopharmaceutical innovation projects."

FIELD-LAB aims to be a joint research and development centre for collaborations and partnerships, facilitating services including: radio-chemistry laboratory R&D services; development of production processes; research grade material supply; development and implementation of good manufacturing practices (GMP) processes; and GMP approved small batch material supply.

FIELD-LAB will be based at the Energy & Health Campus in Petten, adjacent to the High Flux Reactor, which produces about one-third of all commonly used medical isotopes worldwide.

"Several years ago, NRG turned its attention to stimulating the development of nuclear medications," said NRG Business Director Philippe Brouwers. "Among other things, we started collaborating with various partners such as university hospitals to draw up the plans for FIELD-LAB. Some 30,000 patients per day now benefit from the products we're creating in Petten. With this subsidy, we can start realising FIELD-LAB and in that way help even more patients in the future."