Canadian radioisotope developer MDS Nordion of Kanata, Ontario, and nuclear medicine and MRI ligand developer Macrocyclics of Dallas have entered into a research and development collaboration to develop bifunctional chelates for use in molecular imaging and targeted therapeutic pharmaceuticals, the companies reported.
Bifunctional chelates are chemical compounds used to secure a radioisotope to a molecular targeting agent such as a monoclonal antibody, peptide, or other molecules specific for biologic receptors.
The three-year collaboration with Macrocyclics will focus on novel chelate structures, linkers, and conjugation methods to enable the use of a wider range of targeting vectors by the research community, according to MDS Nordion.
The objective is to develop, and make available, chelates that have performance features such as high-efficiency radiolabeling at room temperature, while maintaining stability comparable to industry-standard chelates, MDS Nordion said.
MDS Nordion said that the new chelates will be assessed with a variety of its radioisotopes including yttrium-90, lutetium-177, indium-111, and copper-64.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writers
May 26, 2005
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