Photo Source: Federal State Budgetary Institution "Federal Scientific and Clinical Center for Medical Radiology and Oncology" of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA of Russia)
Rakurs (223Ra) received registration from the Russian Ministry of Health in early 2025, and FMBA has now announced the first deliveries of the RPh to medical institutions. The RPh is produced at FNKCRIO FMBA of Russia in Dimitrovgrad using its own 223Ra isotope.
The drug is in injection form and is used to treat castration-resistant prostate cancer with multiple bone metastases in the absence of internal organ involvement. The drug is unique in that radium-223 is chemically similar to calcium and naturally integrates into bone tissue, accumulating specifically at metastatic sites where active bone formation occurs. Studies have shown an increase in overall survival of 3.6 months, reduction in pain syndrome, and delay of bone complications such as fractures with low toxicity.
Radium chloride (223Ra) belongs to modern RPhs based on isotopes that emit α (alpha) particles. They are more effective in combating tumor cells compared to β (beta) isotopes due to significantly higher radiation energy. Additionally, alpha particles cause minimal damage to surrounding healthy tissues and bone marrow. Production of such drugs, on the other hand, requires serious technological infrastructure and rapid logistics, as they have a short half-life.
In Russia, since 2024, domestic production of radium chloride, 223Ra has been established by Prostor Pharma company at UrFU in Yekaterinburg, the drug is included in the Essential Medicines List and is available through mandatory health insurance in major oncology centers and federal clinics. Now the FMBA-produced drug is also available. Previously, only the imported "Xofigo" manufactured by Bayer was used.
Domestic medical and research centers produce a wide line of their own RPhs for radionuclide therapy (RNT). These include, for example, advanced drugs based on Lu-177-PSMA (lutetium) and Ac-225-PSMA (actinium) for therapy of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, as well as Y-90 (yttrium) and Re-188 (rhenium) for conducting locoregional RNT in inoperable liver tumors.
An overview of the possibilities of Russian nuclear medicine from Marus Media is available here.
Source: (FMBA of Russia)
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