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Bridging the gaps in 18F PET tracer development

Nature Chemistry volume 9, pages 1–3 (2017)Cite this article

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As compared to the drug discovery process, the development of new 18F PET tracers lacks a well-established pipeline that advances compounds from academic research to candidacy for (pre)clinical imaging. In order to bridge the gaps between methodological advances and clinical success, we must rethink the development process from training to implementation.

Over the past decade, organic chemistry research has led to significant advances in fluorination chemistry1,2,3,4,5. Although potential applications in positron emission tomography (PET) are often cited as a motivation for fluorination research in synthetic chemistry6,7,8,9, many new reactions are never adapted to fluorination with the radioisotope 18F, let alone translated to radiotracer development for PET. Here, we discuss the gaps that exist in the 18F PET tracer pipeline, from fundamental method development through to clinical implementation.

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Figure 1: Visual depiction of chemical space for 18F radiochemistry.

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Author notes

  1. Michael G. Campbell

    Present address: Present Address: Department of Chemistry, Barnard College, 3009 Broadway, New York, New York 10027, USA,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Michael G. Campbell & Tobias Ritter

  2. Global Chemistry, UCB NewMedicines, UCB Biopharma SPRL, 1420, Braine-l'Alleud, Belgium

    Joel Mercier & Christophe Genicot

  3. Chemistry Research Laboratory, University of Oxford, 12 Mansfield Road, OX1 3TA, Oxford, UK

    Véronique Gouverneur

  4. Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, 02114, Massachusetts, USA

    Jacob M. Hooker & Tobias Ritter

  5. Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, 02129, Massachusetts, USA

    Jacob M. Hooker

  6. Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, D-45470, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany

    Tobias Ritter

Authors
  1. Michael G. Campbell
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  2. Joel Mercier
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  3. Christophe Genicot
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  4. Véronique Gouverneur
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  5. Jacob M. Hooker
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  6. Tobias Ritter
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Correspondence to Tobias Ritter.

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Campbell, M., Mercier, J., Genicot, C. et al. Bridging the gaps in 18F PET tracer development. Nature Chem 9, 1–3 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2693

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