OREANDA-NEWS. June 09, 2015. Tracers for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging procedures play a critical role in medical care today. Yet the logistics of getting tracers onsite at healthcare providers’ facilities can sometimes prove difficult for sites outside of radiopharmacies’ distribution network, particularly in emerging markets. GE Healthcare (NYSE:GE) announced today that it has created a solution to make PET tracers for diagnostic imaging more readily available. At the Society for Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI), GE Healthcare is launching new products for radiopharmaceutical manufacturing, including GENtraceTM*, a small cyclotron, with a smaller footprint that is optimized for ease-of-use; and FASTlab™ 2^, a new PET tracer production module with FDG Duo cassettes, to maximize the hot cell capacity.

Simple, Easy-to-site F-18 Production: GENtrace

GE Healthcare is launching the third instrument in its family of cyclotrons used to produce the isotope Fluorine-18 (F-18), which provides the foundation for PET tracer manufacturing. The GENtrace cyclotron is simple to use due to more automated steps, takes up less space, and can be operated by a Nuclear Medicine technician. With these benefits, facilities in emerging markets and those outside the distribution radius for PET tracers can become autonomous in their F-18 manufacturing.

Achieve more with FASTlab 2 and FDG Duo

FASTlab 2 is the newest generation of the FASTlab platform for PET tracer production, which contains an automated cassette-based system and the assurance of reliable, reproducible and consistent quality during each run. Users are able to use two independent FASTlab 2 systems performing multiple runs in the same hot cell, gaining efficiency and saving time. FDG Duo is the new cassette complementing the existing FASTlab cassette portfolio, with integrated reagents allowing users to perform two consecutive Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) citrate runs without having to open the hot cell door. Together, this allows up to four FDG runs or FDG runs with alternative PET tracers in combinations – maximizing the capacity and versatility of the instrument’s hot cell output.

Like all other GE FASTlab cassettes, FDG Duo is a unique pre-assembled integrated cassette offering with guaranteed quality, as Good Manufacturing Process (GMP)-grade reagents are included in the cassettes. FASTlab 2 also offers flexibility and range because it allows the use of tracer applications from third party research partners and can help develop additional innovative tracers thanks to two built-in reactors. FASTlab 2 and FDG Duo cassettes can help customers optimize their PET tracer production and achieve more, providing flexible production capacity and better economics.

One Complete PET Tracer Production Solution: TRACERcenter VIP

Using both the GENtrace cyclotron and FASTlab 2 automated PET tracer production platform as a package called TRACERcenter VIP, out-of-network facilities can provide increased access to PET tracers and benefit from the flexibility of customizing tracers for their specific patient needs.

“This new solution will enable hospitals and clinicians to produce PET tracers in a more streamlined way in compliance with a Good Manufacturing Process (GMP),” said Erik Str?mqvist, general manager of cyclotrons at GE Healthcare. “TRACERcenter VIP is all about expanding the access to short-lived PET tracers globally with a smaller footprint and more automation to support customers’ in-house production capability.”

*The GENtrace cyclotron is not CE marked and cannot be placed on the market or put into service in the relevant countries until it has been made to comply with the all relevant Directive requirements for CE marking or otherwise obtained all required regulatory authorizations.

^The FASTlab 2 is not CE marked and cannot be placed on the market or put into service in the relevant countries until it has been made to comply with the all relevant Directive requirements for CE marking or otherwise obtained all required regulatory authorizations.