Pluvicto available in mid-Missouri | Mid-Missouri News [Video]

COLUMBIA — Pluvicto, a radiopharmaceutical treatment for prostate cancer, will be available at Missouri Cancer Associates by the end of spring. The treatment is currently offered through a pilot program at MU Health Care.

Pluvicto includes the radioisotope lutetium-177 (Lu-177), which is exclusively produced at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR).

MU Health Care was the first to roll out Pluvicto, a collaboration of nuclear medicine and radiation oncology. The first infusion was completed at the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center. MU Health Care currently treats five patients within its pilot program.

Dr. Andrew Iliff, a medical oncologist at Missouri Cancer Associates, explained how the treatment works.

“We end up combining a radioactive isotope with a target, in this case it’s against PSMA (prostate specific membrane antigen) which is expressed on the surface of prostate cancer cells,” Iliff said.

This creates a radioligand, which Iliff compared to a trojan horse. 

“You have this linker, it binds to the prostate cancer cell, and then gets internalized in that …