Promising new cancer treatments need rare isotopes. But when only a small number of facilities worldwide can produce those isotopes reliably, even breakthrough therapies can struggle to reach patients.
At SHINE, we’re working to change that reality. We've successfully demonstrated gadolinium enrichment—a complex process requiring very high temperatures and specialized equipment. This opens the path to producing terbium-161, one of the most promising cancer-fighting isotopes in development.
Terbium offers something current treatments can’t: matched isotopes that work identically but serve different purposes – one for diagnosis, one for therapy.
Terbium-161 is showing promise in early clinical trials, delivering targeted radiation to destroy cancer cells. Research into terbium-155 in pre-clinical studies suggests it could provide imaging capabilities to track treatment progress. Both isotopes share identical chemistry, which means pharmaceutical companies can use the same targeting system for both applications.
This approach, combining diagnostics and therapeutics into a single, coordinated treatment, is called theranostics. With terbium's matched-pair system, doctors could see where the cancer is and treat those same spots more precisely. The result: more targeted therapy and better treatment monitoring than current options allow.
Enriching gadolinium required solving several technical challenges. The element requires much higher temperatures to vaporize than ytterbium, which we already enrich for n.c.a. lutetium-177 production. And certain gadolinium isotopes sit closer together, making them harder to separate precisely. Those combined demands require specialized materials and equipment that few facilities have.
Our electromagnetic isotope separation technology has operated successfully for years, but gadolinium pushed it beyond its original design limits. To meet those demands, our engineers upgraded the system to handle both higher temperatures and more precise separation. The result is a system that now separates gadolinium isotopes reliably, demonstrating its ability to adapt to elements with very different technical requirements.
This adaptability is central to our strategy. We’re building an isotope platform designed to serve multiple markets as they emerge.
Gadolinium enrichment for terbium follows the same approach we used with ytterbium for lutetium-177: identify supply risks, build in-house capabilities, and create reliable supply for pharmaceutical partners. As researchers develop new theranostic treatments, we can adapt our proven technology to support them.
Our gadolinium enrichment demonstration is part of the Terbium for Life project, a €2.5 million collaboration with the University Medical Center Groningen funded by the European Innovation Council. This three-year project aims to establish European supply chains for terbium isotopes, developing the production processes and regulatory pathways needed to bring terbium treatments to patients.
We're still in early-stage gadolinium enrichment—we’ve proven the concept but haven’t reached commercial production yet. The next phase involves scaling up production and ensuring consistent quality.
Our enrichment equipment can handle multiple elements with different technical requirements. We're creating supply chain capabilities that pharmaceutical partners need, and we’re collaborating with leading medical institutions as they develop patient treatments with these isotopes.
The medical isotope industry has operated under supply constraints for decades. Our gadolinium enrichment capability is one step toward changing that—building the infrastructure needed to bring next-gen cancer treatments to the patients who need them.
