At Cannizzaro the latest generation drug to fight prostate cancer

It is called 68-Gallium Psma and is a newly introduced radiopharmaceutical indicated in the study of prostate cancer. Authorized in Europe from 1 April last, from that same date it is summarized in the complex operational unit of nuclear-Pet medicine of the Cannizzaro hospital of Catania.

From the first sessions it made it possible to discriminate more sensitively the presence of disease recurrence even in the presence of low levels of Psa.

«It is a source of pride – says the general manager of the Cannizzaro company Salvatore Giuffrida – to have the radiopharmaceutical 68-Gallium Psma in production since the first day of the entry into force of the authorizations for its use by the European authorities. The new diagnostic method demonstrates, from the very first cases, to be able to offer greater precision in the study of prostate cancer, higher than that achievable with other methods, albeit quite advanced. And this – he adds – is the result of the continuous innovation of the Cannizzaro Company, which has equipped itself with the necessary equipment for the production in maximum safety of the new state-of-the-art radiopharmaceutical for the study of prostatic pathologies and more ». Psma is the abbreviation of Prostate-specific membrane antigen, i.e. specific membrane antigen for the prostate. It is found in large quantities on the surface of cells that characterize prostate cancer, and is an ideal target for the study of the disease.

“If we are able to bind a radioactive isotope such as Gallium-68 to this antigen exactly as it happens during the marking of this product in our radiopharmacy laboratory – explains the director of the Cannizzaro Nuclear Medicine UOC Massimo Ippolito – we are able to perform a highly specific Pet exam. In other words, we can visualize and precisely identify the sites of the disease, and we are able to do it earlier than we are able to do using different radiopharmaceuticals ».