AREVA Med, an AREVA subsidiary, announced today the future construction of a facility in France that will produce on a large-scale medical grade lead 212.
Why Lead-212?
Lead-212 is a rare radioactive isotope that lies at the heart of promising nuclear medical research to develop new cancer treatments. Over the past few years, AREVA Med and its partners demonstrated the benefits of Lead-212 for use in innovative alpha radio-immunotherapy to combat cancer.
What does AREVA know about nuclear medicine?
By relying on its experience in radiochemistry and nuclear engineering, AREVA has developed innovative processes to extract rare isotopes derived from its industrial activities.
Why is AREVA building a facility to produce large quantities of Lead-212?
In nuclear medicine, the development of new treatments is dictated by isotope availability. With this new facility scheduled to open in 2013, rare Lead-212 will become more widely available and allow for the creation of new targeted therapies for patients.
Last week France’s TF1 television network featured AREVA’s innovative work under way in partnership with the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the University of Alabama for the development of a treatment to fight cancer.
The news team got to take a look inside AREVA’s La Hague Facility, in Normandy, where the idea of using AREVA’s expertise in nuclear engineering first came into being. The piece from TF1 also shows the important research and clinical testing underway with partners in the United States.
The clip is a great overview of this project, but unfortunately it’s in French. For those of you who are not fluent, there’s a cheat-sheet with a translation of the video right here (PDF).
AREVA Med, an AREVA subsidiary, is developing innovative methods for the production of the Lead-212 radio-isotope. This isotope has shown to be very promising in tests when used in the targeting therapy called Alpha radio-immunotherapy (Alpha-RIT). Alpha-RIT is a very powerful anti-cancer therapy that works by binding an isotope, like Lead-212, to a monoclonal antibody. Using the body’s own antigens, this treatment targets only cancer cells and destroys them using the high energy of Lead-212. While Alpha-RIT has potential to treat numerous types of cancers, including those that don’t respond well to chemotherapy or radiation, these radio-isotopes have traditionally existed in very limited quantities, hindering the development of new scientific treatments. This is why AREVA has focused on an isotope production method, to make sure Lead-212 is available for cancer research and future treatments.
And if the AREVA Med recognition at the CGI event has you curious for more background on this effort, do see the interview with CEO Patrick Bourdet here:
Today in New York, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) recognized AREVA and its subsidiary AREVA Med LLC for its pioneering work in developing new methods for producing medical-grade Lead 212─ a promising isotope for combating cancer.
As the world leader in clean energy generation, AREVA has rather unique expertise in radiochemistry and nuclear engineering that now we are using to help devise new ways to extract rare isotopes.
AREVA Med President Patrick Bourdet said, “Now that the project has reached important scientific and technical milestones, we are excited to share our optimism about our work. We are committed to the possibility that we can combat cancer with innovative new treatments, and the production of medical-grade lead 212 is a major step forward. We are honored by this recognition by the prestigious Clinton Global Initiative.”
This recognition by the CGI is also an acknowledgement of the work done in cooperation with our remarkable partners, the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
And this is the second year in a row that AREVA has been recognized by the CGI. Last year ADAGE, our joint-venture with Duke Energy to build biomass plants, was spotlighted.
