German nuclear medicine contrast company OctreoPharm Sciences has received the worldwide exclusive license for the development and commercialization of SOMscan from Novartis Pharma.
The new gallium-68-labeled radioactive contrast agent for PET used by the product is designed to selectively detect and monitor neuroendocrine tumors. SOMscan binds to four out of five specific receptor subtypes for the naturally occurring hormone somatostatin on the cell surface of neuroendocrine tumors, which allow detection of neuroendocrine tumors and metastases.
