SECURE Project

Strengthening the European Chain of sUpply for next generation medical RadionuclidEs

DESCRIPTION of the SECURE Project

The SECURE project aims to make a major contribution to the sustainability of medical isotope production and its safe application in Europe.

It is focusing on promising developments in the design of irradiation targets, and production routes for existing and new isotopes in nuclear therapy and diagnostics.

Isotopes which are critical for the success of nuclear medicine are selected and research activities are identified to address some of the major challenges in securing its future availability.

Objectives are the following:
1. to remove critical barriers along the production of its selected alpha and beta-emitting isotopes that restrict sustainable production,
2. to develop a framework of guidance and recommendations that enable exploring the full clinical potential of alpha and beta particle therapy and its safe application
3. to provide important lessons learned that act as a demonstration case for addressing issues in upscaling and sustained isotope production.

The expected demand of nuclear medicine for novel alpha-emitters and beta-emitters requires a re-evaluation of their production methods and inventories of target materials and parent radionuclides.

The ambition of the SECURE consortium is to identify and efficiently use the current resources for new radionuclides, particularly for alpha emitters and the relevant beta-emitting theranostic radionuclides.

The development of alternative technologies for the production of such therapeutic radionuclides for improved patient treatment requires multidisciplinary scientific and technological knowledge including physics, chemistry, material science, machining of target materials, chemistry, biology and radiobiology, radiopharmacy and nuclear medicine.

All this chain of expertise is present in the SECURE consortium.

PODCAST on radiopharmacy, in Italian.

📣 Radiofarmaci e medicina nucleare: collaborazioni virtuose from local to global!

💡 Il settore della hashtagmedicinanucleare e dei radiofarmaci è in continua crescita e all’interno della regione Emilia-Romagna si può contare sull’operato di diversi attori tra ospedali, centri di ricerca e università. Questa collaborazione ha portato ad un percorso virtuoso, con la formazione di un nucleo di competenze che ha permesso la partecipazione, insieme a stakeholders internazionali, a progetti europei come SECURE, mirato a incentivare la sostenibilità della catena di approvvigionamento dei radionuclidi.

🎙️ Ne parlano in questa nuova puntata di healthinprogress:
📌 Valentina Di Iorio, Responsabile della Radiofarmacia dell’IRCCS Istituto Romagnolo per lo Studio dei Tumori “Dino Amadori” – IRST Srl
📌 Roberta Cirillo, Communications & Strategy Director di European Nuclear Education Network
📌 Marco Capogni, Ricercatore di ENEA

Regione Emilia-Romagna ART-ER S. cons. p. a. podcast clusterhealth salute innovazione

🎧 Per ascoltare la puntata: https://lnkd.in/dsUcJgTX

PUBLICATIONS related to the SECURE project

“Targeted Alpha Therapy: All We Need to Know about 225Ac’s Physical Characteristics and Production as a Potential Theranostic Radionuclide” – Wael Jalloul, Vlad Ghizdovat, Cati Raluca Stolniceanu, Teodor Ionescu,Irena Cristina Grierosu, Ioana Pavaleanu, Mihaela Moscalu and Cipriana Stefanescu

“Alpha Atlas: Mapping global production of α-emitting radionuclides for targeted alpha therapy” – Marianna Tosato, Chiara Favaretto, Janke Kleynhans, Andrew R. Burgoyne, Jean-François Gestin, Nicholas P. van der Meulen, Amirreza Jalilian, Ulli Koster, Mattia Asti, Valery Radchenko

“Targeted Alpha Therapy: All We Need to Know about the Clinical Aspects of Ac-225 PSMA Radioligand Therapy and its Relevance Compared with Lu-177 PSMA in Advanced Prostate Cancer Management” – Wael Jalloul, Vlad Ghizdovat, Alexandra Saviuc, Despina Jalloul, Irena Cristina Grierosu, Cipriana Stefanescu

“Cysteine-selective [188Re]Re(V) radiolabelling of a Nanobody® for targeted radionuclide therapy using a “chelate-then-click” approach” – Diana R. Melis, Charlotte Segers, Jasmien Wellens, Michiel Van de Voorde, Olivier Blacque, Maarten Ooms, Gilles Gasser, and Tomas Opsomer. Chemical Science, Issue 14

“Two-step extraction chromatography of ¹⁶¹Tb from ¹⁶⁰Gd-enriched irradiated target material and verification of the [¹⁶¹Tb]TbCl₃ suitability for radiolabelling” – M. Żółtowska, D.W. Pawlak, I. Cieszykowska, P. Saganowski, A. Filiks, R. Mikołajczak. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, Volume 226, 2025, 112144.

“Activity standardization and determination of half-life of Tb-161” – Lisowska, J. Marganiec-Gałązka, M. Czudek, A. Kamiński, E. Kołakowska, E. Lech, A. Listkowska, P. Saganowski, Z. Tymiński. Applied Radiation and Isotopes Vol. 226 112213 (2025)

“Targeted alpha therapy in the clinical practice: radiation protection considerations” – Anna Sarnelli, Emilio Mezzenga, Robert P. Kollaard, Ellis G. Winters, Govert De With Renata Mikołajczak. The European Physical Journal Plus. Reference: Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2025) 140:804

“Advancing Targeted Radionuclide Therapy in Nuclear Medicine – A future perspective” – Govert de With, Tim Tinsley, Renata Mikolajczak, Ronald Schram, Dimitris Visvikis, Camila Boix, Gabriel Pavel, Marco Capogni, Sarah Baatout, Niloefar Ahmadi Bidakhvidi. EANM Innovation, Vol 1, 2025, 100007.

“Pre-therapy dose prediction in targeted radionuclide therapy using semi-supervised learning: An in-silico preliminary study” – Jing Zhang, Alexandre Bousse, Yihao Li, Song Xue, Kuangyu Shi, Dimitris Visvikis, and Julien Bert – IEEE Medical Imaging Conference 2024.

“Recommendations on the clinical application and future potential of α-particle therapy. A comprehensive review of the results from the SECURE project” – Valentina Di Iorio, Anna Sarnelli, Stefano Boschi, Maddalena Sansovini, Rosa Maria Genovese, Cipriana Stefanescu, Vlad Ghizdovat, Wael Jalloul; Jennifer Young, Jane Sosabowski, Petra Kolenc, Rachel Roberts, Govert de With, Dimitris Visvikis, and Renata Mikolajczak on behalf of SECURE Project. Pharmaceuticals 2025, 18, x FOR PEER REVIEW.

“Activation of radioisotopes used for medical purposes in the Budapest Neutron Centre “ – Noémi Anna Buczkó, Boglárka Maróti, Zoltán Kis, Katalin Gméling, László Szentmiklósi. Abstract published at the 13th RAD Conference

“ENEA Triga Rc-1 Reactor To Medical Radionuclides Production Within The Eu Secure Project” – L. Lepore, L. Spagnuolo, L. Cozzella, T. Guarcini, F. Limosani, S. Placidi, A. Pagano, L. Falconi, V. Fabrizio, D. Formenton, M. Lammardo, A. Roberti, and M. Capogni – Conference Proceedings of European Research Reactor Conference 2025 (RRFM 2025), April 6th -10th, 2025.

“Development of non-carrier added Au-199 production procedure from neutron-irradiated Pt targets” – Leja Rovan Stiplošek, Radojko Jaćimović, Tea Zuliani, Tjaša Žerdoner, Ulli Köster, Mariella Van Ginkel, Michele Toma, Marko Štrok. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 2025; 226, 112244

“Semi-Supervised Learning for Dose Prediction in Targeted Radionuclide: A Synthetic Data Study” – Jing Zhang, Alexandre Bousse, Chi-Hieu Pham, Kuangyu Shi, Julien Bert. Physics in Medicine and Biology. 2025.

DELIVERABLES

D3.1 – Report on neutron diffraction results and thermal calculations of tungsten oxide targets

D3.2 – Report on metal targets and associated dissolution strategy

D3.3 – Report and prototypes of low density or hollow tungsten metal targets

D3.4 – Supply of W-188 solutions or Re-188 product for non-profit R&D purposes

D3.8 – Report on quality control performed on 188W/188Re for use in radiolabelling studies

D4.1 – Recommendations on clinical applications of alpha particle therapy

D5.1 – Identity package

D5.2 – Webpage under ENEN website

D5.4 – Intermediate report about project outreach & participation in networking events

D6.2 – Data management plan

PARTNERS

N°	Participant organization name	Short name	Country
1	NARODOWE CENTRUM BADAN JADROWYCH	NCBJ	Poland
2	NUCLEAR RESEARCH AND CONSULTANCY GROUP	NRG	Netherlands
3	INSTITUT MAX VON LAUE – PAUL LANGEVIN	ILL	France
4	INSTITUT JOZEF STEFAN	JSI	Slovenia
5	EUROPEAN NUCLEAR EDUCATION NETWORK	ENEN	Belgium
6	HUN-REN CENTRE FOR ENERGY RESEARCH	EK	Hungary
7	EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF ORGANISATIONS FOR MEDICAL PHYSICS	EFOMP	Netherlands
8	AGENZIA NAZIONALE PER LE NUOVE TECNOLOGIE, L’ENERGIA E LO SVILUPPO ECONOMICO SOSTENIBILE	ENEA	Italy
9	STUDIECENTRUM VOOR KERNENERGIE / CENTRE D’ETUDE DE L’ENERGIE NUCLEAIRE	SCK CEN	Belgium
10	EVALION SRO	EVALION	Czechia
11	BUDAPESTI MUSZAKI ES GAZDASAGTUDOMANYI EGYETEM	BME	Hungary
12	CLUST ER INDUSTRIE DELLA SALUTE E DEL BENESSERE	Clust-ER Health	Italy
13	CLUSTERUL REGIONAL INOVATIV DE IMAGISTICA MOLECULARA SI STRUCTURALA NORD-EST	IMAGO-MOL	Romania
14	ISTITUTO ROMAGNOLO PER LO STUDIO DEI TUMORI DINO AMADORI – IRST SRL	IRST	Italy
15	UNIVERSITE DE BRETAGNE OCCIDENTALE	UBREST	France
16	UNIVERZITETNI KLINICNI CENTER LJUBLJANA	UKCL	Slovenia
17	JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE- EUROPEAN COMMISSION	JRC	Belgium
18(associated)	NATIONAL NUCLEAR LABORATORY LIMITED	NNL	United Kingdom

The Final Meeting of the SECURE Project took place in Warsaw, Poland

15–16 September 2025

Day 1 – ADN Conference Center, Warsaw

📌 Technical Work Package presentations

📌 Partners shared the final status of deliverables, publications, and lessons learned across all WPs.

📌 Discussions covered the future of medical radionuclide production, alternative routes, legacy materials, radiochemistry perspectives, and good distribution practices.

Day 2 – at NCBJ

🔬 Visit to the Radioisotope Centre POLATOM laboratories

⚡ Tour of the new CERAD cyclotron facility – a glimpse into the future of nuclear medicine innovation.

🤝A huge THANK YOU to all our partners for their dedication, expertise, and teamwork throughout the project. Together, we’ve made an important step forward for Europe’s capacity in nuclear medicine. We look forward to find a way to continue this journey of collaboration and innovation in the future.

SECURE Project Special Event – “Advancing in Supply, Safety and Strength in Radioisotopes Production and Use for Nuclear Medicine: Innovations and Perspectives”

An event dedicated to the future of medical isotope production and its critical role in cancer diagnose and treatment, aligning with key European initiatives.

📅 Date: 28th May 2025

📍 Venue: Fondation Universitaire Stichting, Rue d’Egmont 11, Brussels 1000, Belgium

Background:

The use of nuclear medicine is strongly increasing, with new nuclear medicines for therapy, diagnostics and theranostics being developed. Europe has a strong position in nuclear medicine in the clinical environment and the supply chain. To maintain that supply chain position for future nuclear medical developments, efforts must be made to strengthen the nuclear medical knowledge infrastructure. By doing innovation and research, and by securing future human capital through education and training. The importance of ensuring reliable and safe radioisotope production for public health within nuclear medicine and radioisotope application has been documented.

Key Topics:

Advancements in alpha- and beta-emitting isotopes, including their safe production and application
Bridging the gap between research, industry, and healthcare providers to enhance the availability of medical isotopes
The SECURE Project’s contributions to addressing production challenges and upscaling isotope supply

This event serves as a platform to exchange knowledge and explore synergies between ongoing European efforts to enhance medical isotope availability and safety.

Registration

Please register for the event here: Register Here

For more information, visit our website: SECURE Project Overview We look forward to welcoming you to this important discussion on the future of nuclear

Additional details and Preliminary Agenda Below:

PROJECT Kick-Off meeting took place in Warsaw, on 5 October 2022

SECURE Project – General Assembly meeting at ENEA Premises in Frascati (Rome, Italy)

A special ‘GRAZIE’ to our ENEA colleagues who made all this possible:

Alessandro Dodaro, Head of FSN department, for his warm welcome and introducing ENEA activities,

and

Cristina Sanna (REL-EVENTI), Patrizia Franzini (ISER), Catia Melorio (FSN), Katia Tancredi (ISER), Paola Berardini (FSN-FISS-RNR), and Luigi Lepore (FSN-FISS), Stefano Loreti (FSN-FNG) & Antonino Pietropaolo (FSN-FNG), for the support given to Marco Capogni (FSN-INMRI) to organize the event.

SECURE Project – General Assembly meeting at JSI Premises in Ljubljana (Slovenia)

Project Meeting in Ljubliana, at JSI !

“Hvala” to our project partners from Jozef Stefan Institut for hosting the SECURE Consortium & the great organisation of the meeting!

SECURE Project – Plenary Meeting in Alkmaar (the Nederlands) 14-15.03.2024

Project Plenary Meeting took place at our Project Partner, NRG!

An interesting overview of project achievements and advancements so far.

Congratulations to All Consortium & much appreciation for the host, NRG!

SECURE Project M24 Plenary Meeting

This event brough together experts and researchers working to ensure the sustainability of medical isotope production and its safe application across Europe.

📍 London, UK
🗓️ 23-24 September 2024.

The SECURE project is committed to advancing nuclear therapy and diagnostics, ensuring the ongoing availability of medical isotopes for healthcare.

“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.”