and clinical questions not only in the diagnostic field but also in the therapeutic field."
A year earlier, GE purchased Amersham, a London-based radiopharmaceutical R&D company that was combined with GE Medical Systems to create a new division called GE Healthcare Technologies.
That acquisition "accelerated the development of molecular imaging and personalized medicine where it will be possible to predict and treat disease with therapies tailored to the individual," Jeffrey Immelt, GE's chairman and CEO, said in a release at the time of the purchase.
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Siemens currently has more than 45 radiopharmaceutical distribution centers across the country and are able to ship to roughly 99% of all hospitals in the U.S.
"We are one of the only companies with nationwide distribution of [PET] radiopharmaceuticals and this brings us extremely close to the customer and shows Siemens' commitment to the business because we currently offer clinical imaging equipment, research equipment, biomarkers and even a nationwide distribution network," says Lusser.
Tara Schumacher, a spokesperson for Cardinal Health - which is a global manufacturer and distributor of medical and surgical supplies and technologies - says Cardinal is the leading distributor of PET and SPECT radiopharmaceuticals
for nuclear medicine in the U.S., with over 150 radiopharmacies located across the country.
Dr. Wagner feels the benefits of nuclear medicine are so important that, "the major message I would give is that every hospital above a really small size, those with 100 beds or more, should have a radiopharmacy and the ability to make these tracers locally." Wagner added, however, "the time frame for this happening is going to be long, in the range of 20-30 years; everything to do with radiopharmaceuticals takes longer than you think."
The cost for these small, local radiopharmacies could be as low as $250,000 in upfront money for the equipment. Then you would need to pay for individual tracers and hire staff who are well versed in nuclear medicine.
Today PET is predominantly utilized as a diagnostic tool with one biomarker - FDG - but in the future, because the ability to create a variety of biomarkers for very specific indications of specific diseases exists, the potential is limitless.
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