In partnership with CEPID CancerThera, the Hospital de Clínicas (HC) of Unicamp inaugurated, on June 3, a Clinical Radiopharmacy in the hospital’s Nuclear Medicine Service (SMN). The facility, located on the second floor, includes safety and quality control equipment for the production of radiopharmaceuticals intended for different types of cancer and other medical conditions.

This initiative, in addition to benefiting patients treated by the SMN/HC/Unicamp team, “has turned the site into a national model, capable of operating in accordance with all regulatory requirements from the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) and the National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN), allowing the labeling of various radiopharmaceuticals to be used in CancerThera’s clinical research,” explains Prof. Dr. Bárbara Juarez Amorim, nuclear medicine physician, coordinator of SMN/HC/Unicamp, and associate researcher at CancerThera.

The SMN provides care for HC/Unicamp patients and participates in CancerThera’s clinical research, promoting educational actions for various professionals, such as radiopharmacists, medical physicists, nuclear medicine physicians, biomedical scientists, among others.

An initiative for national development

The renovation of the space housing the Clinical Radiopharmacy was made possible with resources from FAPESP, and the acquisition of some of the installed equipment resulted from a project funded by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the United Nations (UN), led by Prof. Dr. Elba Etchebehere and Prof. Dr. Allan Santos, nuclear medicine physicians and, respectively, principal investigator and associate researcher at CancerThera.

The project submitted to the IAEA/UN aimed to provide solutions to challenges faced by Brazil in the field of Nuclear Medicine, such as the shortage of radiopharmaceuticals, Unicamp’s limited access to certain types, and the lack of qualified radiopharmacists for handling these products. Consequently, healthcare education remains incomplete, and patients are negatively affected, as they do not receive proper diagnoses and treatments, increasing costs for public health.

Within the scope of the IAEA/UN-funded project, new radiopharmaceuticals will be produced to meet demands in various fields, including Oncology, Infectology, Cardiology, Pulmonology, Neurology, Orthopedics, Uro-oncology, Breast Diseases, Female Pelvis, Nephrology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, and others. In terms of education, the implementation of the Clinical Radiopharmacy is also a milestone for the National Center for Education and Training in Radiopharmacy in Nuclear Medicine, whose residency-based training is a unique model in the country and Latin America, making Unicamp a pioneer in this field.

“This milestone is just the beginning. The consumables [radioactive materials for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes] will arrive in two months, and we will begin student training in 2025. By making this possible, we are opening doors for other UN-funded projects. I believe Unicamp is taking another major step in this direction,” says Etchebehere, who also highlights the importance of the Clinical Radiopharmacy for national development in scientific and technological production.

For the second half of the year, plans include expanding the Radiopharmacy with the creation of a therapeutic room and the acquisition of an advanced SPECT/CT scanner. For next year, the inauguration of the new Nuclear Medicine area at HC/Unicamp and the start of the Radiopharmacy residency program are planned.