The paradox of Copper-64

The paradox of Copper-64 is its low profile in Nuclear Medicine. Part of this may be explained by the reporting of its use in PET, with the sister radionuclide, Cu-67, as its therapeutic counterpart. However, the low irradiation cross section and high bombardment energy requirements (seven day irradiation; 200 MeV) for the production of Cu-67 has made its commercialization difficult. While Cu-64 may be readily produced in a reactor [using the Szilard Chalmers reaction or Zn-64 (n,p) methods] or a cyclotron [(Ni-64(1.08%) (p,n);10-12MeV] the limiting factor in its commercial availability has been the result of either poor specific activity, poor yields or the cost of target material. However, recent research in the Radiopharmaceutical Division of ANSTO, using Cu-64 radiolabelled antibodies demonstrated its potential for diagnosis and therapy of cancer