Limoges: another milestone achieved for the CARAT Project in cancer research

AREVA Med delivered this week the first nanograms of lead-212 to the Limoges University Hospital as part of the CARAT project (Consortium for alpha radiotherapy applications). CARAT aims to develop a French sector for the production of lead-212 and for treatments which use this rare metal to treat cancers that currently have limited therapeutic options. The Limoges University Hospital (Nuclear medicine department), the CRIBL¹ laboratory and AREVA Med are partners in this project that received financing in 2015 in the frame under the French future investment program (PIA).

Produced by AREVA Med facility located on AREVA Group Bessines-sur-Gartempe site, lead-212 was delivered in a generator by AREVA Med teams and will allow the beginning of innovative cancer research works.

These last few months, Limoges University Hospital Nuclear Medicine Department (Pr. J. Monteil), CRIBL (Pr. M. Cogné) and AREVA Med teams have worked in close collaboration to prepare the early experiences dedicated to alpha radioimmunotherapy with lead-212, a new therapeutic approach  which targets and destroys cancer cells, while limiting the impact on nearby healthy cells. This approach will be assessed until 2018 in various hematological malignancies, taking advantage of proven CRIBL laboratory expertise in this field.

Bruno Pagnard, Head of AREVA Med production activities on AREVA Bessines site, declared: “This first delivery is a further step in our collaboration with Limoges University and University Hospital. We are looking forward to making our lead-212 and expertise available to Limoges scientists”

Stéphanie Durand-Panteix and Isabelle Quelven-Bertin, respectively responsible of the CARAT project for CRIBL Laboratory and Limoges University Hospital, added: « This first delivery of AREVA Med lead-212 is a key milestone for CARAT teams. This will enable us to carry out very innovative preclinical studies for several onco-hematological malignancies. This milestone is the achievement of a long and rigorous theoretical approach and the beginning of unprecedented and promising research”.

¹ Control of the B Cell Immune Response and Lymphoproliferations  (Joint Research Unit UMR 7276 CNRS – Limoges University Hospital – Limoges University)