Institute of Nuclear Medicine

Valery Vasilyevich Krylov, Head of the Institute of Nuclear Medicine, is a professor and Head of the Department of Radionuclide Therapy at the A.  Tsyb Medical Radiological Research Centre (MRRC).

In 2021, a nuclear pharmacy for the production of radiopharmaceuticals was opened at the A.  Tsyb MRRC — a branch of the National Medical Research Radiological Centre of the Ministry of Health of Russian Federation. The launch was supported by the Government of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Health of Russian Federation. This pharmacy produces radiopharmaceuticals for treating patients with both oncological and non-oncological conditions. The establishment of this facility opens up new prospects for treating the most challenging patient groups.

The nuclear pharmacy produces a full range of radiopharmaceuticals based on Lu-177, Re-188, and Ac-225 for radionuclide therapy of oncological and non-oncological diseases. After two years, it has expanded: now it is possible to work with several isotopes simultaneously to produce various drugs at the same time.

In March 2025, for the first time in the Russian Federation, doctors at the center treated patients with metastatic and inoperable neuroendocrine tumors using the domestic drug 177Lu-DOTATATE. Over the past 30 years, the incidence of this type of cancer has increased more than sixfold in Russia and worldwide. More than half of the patients have distant metastases, which reduces the possibilities for radical treatment and significantly impairs their quality of life. Unfortunately, neuroendocrine tumors respond very poorly to chemotherapy and are almost completely resistant to radiation therapy.

Earlier, in 2023, the National Medical Research Radiological Centre launched the production and use of 225Ac-PSMA for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer. This condition is characterized by malignant cells becoming resistant to standard treatments; as an alpha-emitter, 225Ac-PSMA has a greater damaging effect than beta-emitting nuclides. In 2021, the first administration of this drug in Russia took place at the A. Tsyb Medical Radiological Research Centre, showing excellent results. Now, if the desired therapeutic effect is not achieved during a patient’s treatment, doctors have a powerful alternative option — therapy with actinium.

The Centre has also completed the first and second phases of clinical trials for the drug “Hepatoren-MRRC”, which has no equivalents worldwide. It is manufactured using albumin spheres labelled with 188Re, intended for patients with primary and secondary liver cancer. Trials have also been completed for “Artroren-MRRC”, a drug designed for the treatment of chronic synovitis via radiosynoviorthesis.

Researchers at the Centre do not stop at what has been achieved and continue to search for new ways to help patients fight cancer.