Philogen has designed, constructed and patented a new robotic device for the automation of radio-iodination of antibodies named “Easy-Iodine”.

Until now, radiolabelled antibodies could be prepared only by on-site manual labelling or by central manual labelling followed by immediate shipment to hospitals.

Both options present a number of limitations. On-site manual labelling exposes medical personnel to radiation and sometimes can be unreliable. Centralized labelling problems include black-out dates, high costs and possible logistic delays. Furthermore, patients are not always available for treatment upon delivery of the radiopharmaceutical, which in such cases, then needs to be discarded resulting with a considerable economic loss for the hospital.

The main advantages of the new Easy-Iodine Machine are:

i) It can be used on-site even by unskilled personnel since the radio-iodination of antibodies is fully automatic.

ii) It comes with labelling kits suitable for use with standard GMP-grade Iodine-131 (same as for radio-metabolic applications) and with any antibody of choice.

iii) The robotic labelling takes place inside the shielded machine, so personnel is not exposed to radiation.

iv) All items exposed to radiation are disposable, therefore there is no need to decontaminate or clean the machine, allowing for quick re-use.

v) The automated reaction gives high reproducibility rates.

vi) Low operating costs and easy management as compared to central labelling.

In short, the Easy-Iodine allows clinical sites to prepare in-house radio-iodinated antibodies in a user-friendly, safe and economic fashion.

Philogen has already started to use the machine in its clinical trials with very good results.

RELATED VIDEOS:
- Part 1: Module Preparation
- Part 2: Labeling Execution