ABSTRACT
Background Problems and opportunities in developing new radiopharmaceuticals In the past decade, no new radiopharmaceuticals have been approved by the regulatory authorities in Europe or the USA for use in the diagnosis of cancer. The reasons for this stem almost totally from a rapid escalation in costs for developing and licensing new drugs.1 However, this state of affairs has not inhibited the rate of academic research into the field, and this has continued unabated throughout this period of time. The increasing availability of positron emission tomography (PET) technology means that the distinct separation between PET and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) radiopharmaceutical development which used to be present is starting to disappear. Although different research groups continue to specialize in their own fields, an increasing number are working across both disciplines.
