NEW! Therapy Center of Excellence (Therapy CoE)

The New Therapy Center of Excellence will provide professional networking and educational opportunities in the area, while simultaneously serving as a resource for development and implementation of Society policy. The organization also has a role to play in fostering partnerships with organizations such as the AAPM, ASTRO, ASCO, WARMTH, and collaborating with agencies such as the NCI, FDA, and DOE. In addition, the Therapy Center of Excellence will collaborate with existing SNMMI entities, including the Nuclear Oncology Council, the PET Center of Excellence and other committees and councils/centers as appropriate.

Rationale: Targeted radionuclide therapy is important in patient care and may be underutilized in the medical community.  The SNMMI BOD agrees and identified radionuclide therapy as one of the five goals in the SNMMI strategic plan.  In addition, the NCI/SNMMI joint task force that organized the NCI-SNMMI Workshop on Target Radionuclide Therapy recommended the development of a Therapy Center within SNMMI.   

As per the SNMMI Bylaws, center status is reserved for nuclear medicine subspecialty or sub-disciplinary areas of interest, each approved by the Board of Directors. Centers provide professional networking and educational programs for nuclear medicine professionals in respective areas, while simultaneously serving as a resource for development and implementation of Society policy. Leadership of centers is composed of elected members of the center and appointed members from the Board of Directors. Centers will manage Society programs and activities related to their subspecialty or sub-disciplinary areas of interest.

Center Membership Fee: $15 | Join this center

SNMMI Strategic Plan Reference: 

Goal C: Increase Appropriate Utilization of Radionuclide Therapy.

Objective 1: Assist in the Development of Emerging Agents.

Objective 2: Advocacy for Regulatory Approval and Reimbursement of Emerging Agents.

Objective 3: Advanced the Use of Approved Agents.

Background: In Spring 2013, SNMMI participated in a joint workshop: NCI-SNMMI Workshop on Targeted Radionuclide Therapy at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. The 2-day workshop proved to be a huge success. Through a series of presentations, individuals representing different professional perspectives on targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) offered a look at the state of the art and current challenges. Both the NCI and SNMMI feel that targeted radionuclide therapy is important in patient care and may be underutilized in the medical community.  As a result of this workshop, the task force convened to organize the conference made a recommendation to the SNMMI leadership that a center be formed within SNMMI to address the issues identified and to promote education and outreach. 

Through this workshop, the following issues were identified:

• Lack of availability of targeted radioisotopes for research and clinical use in therapy.  
• More integration into and determination of optimal sequencing of TRT with existing standards of care might advance clinical use
• Better understanding of TRT side effects/toxicity and complications compared with conventional therapies.
• Attention to patient-reported outcomes assessing quality-of-life benefits with TRT.

It was agreed that a second workshop should be convened.The 2^nd SNMMI-NCI Workshop on Targeted Radionuclide Therapy was heldOctober 24-25, 2014 at NIH in Bethesda, MD. The co-chairs of this workshop were once again Fred Fahey, DSc. and Katherine Zukotynski, MD.

Based on the discussion and conclusions presented during the 2^nd Targeted Radionuclide Therapy Workshop, the following set of actions were recommended. New research is necessary in order to determine the most promising approaches for the next generation of targeted radionuclide therapies. This may involve availability of new raw materials, new and/or increased supply of therapeutic radionuclides, the selection of proper targeting approaches, the development of appropriate in vivo models in larger animals, the construction of dosimetric models and eventually the performance of appropriately designed, large, multicenter randomized trials. The ability to fund such research presents a considerable challenge as do the regulatory issues associated with bringing such novel therapies to the clinic. For these reasons, greater cooperation is necessary to realize the promises of targeted radionuclide therapy. This includes an open partnership among all stakeholders including those of different specialties working more closely together with our international colleagues and industry as well as governmental funders and regulators.