Therapeutic application of a mixture of 64/67Cu radioisotopes

Copper radioisotopes, such as 64Cu and 67Cu, could be useful tools for diagnosis and therapy of cancers, due to the increased accumulation of Cu2+ ions in the tumor site. While 64Cu can be produced with high specific activity using low-energy biomedical cyclotrons and it is already commercially available, 67Cu production is more challenging, due to the difficulties to obtain a high yield without the co-production of other Cu-isotopes, especially 64Cu. Due to the favorable decay characteristics of both 64/67Cu radioisotopes, in this work the possibility of using a mixture of them for therapeutic purposes has been evaluated.