Research on nuclear drugs must be sped up, expert says

China needs to speed up the research and development of radiopharmaceuticals and other nuclear therapy products to meet rising domestic demand, according to a chief scientist in the field.

Du Jin, director of the Radiopharmaceutical Research and Development Center of the China Atomic Energy Authority, said last month in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, that the needs of radiopharmaceuticals and other products used in nuclear medicine therapy in the Chinese market are far from being sufficiently met.

He said the proportion of Chinese people with access to the combined examination of positron emission tomography/computed tomography, an advanced nuclear medicine method used to detect malignant tumors, is much smaller than in the United States, Japan and the European Union.