In the University of Warwick and King’s College London, the FIELD-LAB of NRG has found its first international partners. The universities will be involved in a project on cisplatin to improve existing treatment and to find out why it might not be as effective in all patients. By joining FIELD-LAB, the universities hope to accelerate the process. “The beauty of FIELD-LAB lies in providing a form of open European collaboration, by offering all partners valuable information and knowledge” says Dr Imberti, University of Warwick.

The University of Warwick and King’s College London have been in touch with FIELD-LAB and NRG in their search for nuclear compounds required for their research into the effectiveness of cisplatin. Earlier this year, the consortium agreements have been signed, and the two renowned universities have officially become partners of the FIELD-LAB consortium.

The research performed by the two universities will look into cisplatin, a drug commonly used in chemotherapy to treat various forms of cancer. They will study the workings of the drug and try to answer the question why it is not always effective in treating cancer. The researchers will be using radioactive Na₂PtCl₆, which is visible on a SPECT-CT scanner.

NRG will be responsible for providing the Na₂PtCl₆, the semi-finished product of cisplatin. NRG has previous experience in preparing this semi-finished product, as this also forms the base for another FIELD-LAB research project called CISSPECT: a radioactive drug that is chemically identical to cisplatin, that could help to select the right patients that will benefit from chemotherapy.

King’s College London and Warwick University will also look into a new platinum compound. This compound has the potential to have improved activity compared to cisplatin.

Despite the significant barriers created by both the COVID-pandemic and Brexit, researchers and scientists on both sides of the Channel managed to get things started and hope to present exciting new findings in due time.