Curium PET France, a subsidiary of the American group Curium, will set up in Saint-Herblain, on the outskirts of Nantes (Loire-Atlantique). The company, which specializes in the production of radiopharmaceutical drugs for nuclear medicine, will more precisely set up in the premises of the GIP Arronax, a public research platform in nuclear medicine managing a very high-power cyclotron (70 Mev or millions of electron volts) and, soon, a second one of 18 Mev.
Curium will invest 7 million euros in this facility. This sum should allow the development of premises made available to it and the installation of specific equipment intended for the production of fluorine-labeled radiopharmaceutical drugs required for PET (Positron Emission Tomography) diagnostic examinations. These investments will begin in October 2024 for an installation planned for 2025-2026 and the first laboratory productions by 2028.
A second cyclotron
Curium PET France currently has 12 production sites in France, to which the GIP Arronax site will be added in 2028. The company boasts “a broad portfolio of radiopharmaceutical drugs” including a new radiopharmaceutical drug for the diagnosis of prostate cancer. This new site should enable the company to increase its capacity to meet the growing demand for PET radiopharmaceutical drugs from public and private nuclear medicine centers in the Pays de la Loire region.
The project is therefore part of the installation of the second 18 Mev cyclotron on the GIP Arronax site in Saint-Herblain. The latter will provide time for using this new equipment during the day. The GIP was looking for an industrialist capable of operating the cyclotron at night, in order to optimize its use and share costs. The investment is supported to the tune of 200,000 euros by the Pays de la Loire region.
“When we decided to acquire a new cyclotron to produce more radionuclides and develop our R&D work, we wanted to share our beam time with an industrialist in order to contribute to a better supply of radiopharmaceutical drugs based on Fluorine-18 in the region.“, explains Tony Prézeau, Director of Valorization at Arronax. These agreements concluded until 2040 provide for a 50% sharing of the use and operational costs of the 18 Mev cyclotron which will soon be installed in Arronax’s existing premises.
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