Radiopharmaceutical and methods

1. A single dosage pharmaceutical composition of 3.6 GBq to 11.1 GBq 177 Lu-DOTATATE, comprising:

(a) a complex of lutetium-177 and tetraazacyclododecane tetra-acetic acid-octreotate (DOTATATE) having 98% or greater lutetium-177 incorporation as determined by radio-iTLC;

(b) one or more ascorbate compounds at a concentration of at least 50 mg/mL, and one or more gentistate compounds at a concentration of at least 15 mg/mL;

wherein the pharmaceutical composition has a radioactive concentration of 0.96 GBq/mL or less and maintains a radiochemical purity of 95% or greater as determined by radio-HPLC after 5 days at 25° C.

2. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 wherein the complex of lutetium- 177 and tetraazacyclododecane tetra-acetic acid-octreotate (DOTATATE) corresponds to the following structure:

3. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 wherein the radiochemical purity of the composition is 95% or greater for 5 days at 25° C. , as determined by both radio-HPLC analysis and radio-iTLC analysis.

4. A method for preparing 177 Lu-DOTATATE, comprising:

forming an incorporation reaction mixture comprising lutetium-177 and tetraazacyclododecane tetra-acetic acid-octreotate (DOTATATE) in the presence of one or more ascorbate compounds and one or more gentistate compounds, wherein the ascorbate compound(s) are provided at a concentration of at least 50 mg/mL in the incorporation reaction mixture, the gentistate compound(s) are provided at a concentration of at least 15 mg/mL in the incorporation reaction mixture, and the lutetium-177 is present in the incorporation reaction mixture at a radioactive concentration of about 3.36 GBq/mL,

heating the incorporation reaction mixture to 80° C. or less thereby forming a complex of lutetium-177 and tetraazacyclododecane tetra-acetic acid-octreotate (DOTATATE) having 98% or greater lutetium-177 incorporation as determined by radio-iTLC;

after cooling the incorporation reaction mixture, diluting the incorporation reaction mixture to form a pharmaceutical preparation comprising the complex at a radioactive concentration of 0.96 GBq/mL or less, and having a final concentration of ascorbate compound(s) of at least 50 mg/mL, and of gentistate compound(s) of at least 15 mg/mL, wherein the pharmaceutical composition maintains a radiochemical purity of 95% or greater as determined by radio-HPLC after 5 days at 25° C.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the incorporation reaction mixture is heated for 50 minutes or less.

6. A method for treating a patient suffering from cancer, comprising:

(a) forming an incorporation reaction mixture comprising lutetium-177 and an aqueous formulation comprising tetraazacyclododecane tetra-acetic acid-octreotate (DOTATATE) in the presence of one or more ascorbate compounds and one or more gentistate compounds, wherein the one or more ascorbate compounds are provided at a concentration of at least 50 mg/mL in the incorporation reaction mixture, and the one or more gentisate compounds are provided at a concentration of at least 15 mg/mL in the incorporation reaction mixture,

heating the incorporation reaction mixture to 80° C. or less thereby forming a complex of lutetium-177 and tetraazacyclododecane tetra-acetic acid-octreotate (DOTATATE) having 98% or greater lutetium-177 incorporation as determined by radio-iTLC, and

after cooling the incorporation reaction mixture, diluting the incorporation reaction mixture to form a pharmaceutical preparation comprising the complex at a radioactive concentration of 0.96 GBq/mL, and having a final concentration of ascorbate compound(s) of at least 50 mg/mL, and of gentistate compound(s) of at least 15 mg/mL,

wherein the pharmaceutical composition maintains a radiochemical purity of 95% or greater as determined by radio-HPLC after 5 days at 25° C.; and ; and

b) administering the pharmaceutical preparation to the patient.

7. A method of treating a subject suffering from cancer, comprising administering to the subject an effective amount of pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 .

8. The single dosage pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 , wherein the lutetium-177 is provided as no-carrier-added lutetium-177.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the subject is suffering from neuroendocrine tumors.

10. A single dosage pharmaceutical composition of 3.6 GBq to 11.1 GBq 177 LU-DOTATATE, comprising:

a complex of lutetium-177 and tetraazacyclododecane tetra-acetic acid-octreotate (DOTATATE) having 98% or greater lutetium-177 incorporation as determined by radio-iTLC, being formed from an incorporation reaction carried out at a temperature of 80° C. or less in a solution including at least 15 mg/mL of one or more gentistate compounds and at least 50 mg/mL of one or more ascorbate compounds;

which complex, after formation in the incorporation reaction, is admixed to form the pharmaceutical composition having a concentration of at least 15 mg/mL of one or more gentistate compounds and at least 50 mg/mL of one or more ascorbate compounds, wherein the pharmaceutical composition maintains after 5 days at 25° C. following preparation of the composition: i) a radioactive concentration of 0.96 GBq/mL or less and ii) a radiochemical purity of 95% or greater as determined by radio-HPLC.

11. A method of treating a subject suffering from cancer, comprising administering to the subject an effective amount of pharmaceutical composition of claim 8 .

12. The single dosage pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 , further including at least 0.4 mg/mL diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA).

13. The single dosage pharmaceutical composition of claim 10 , wherein the lutetium-177 is provided as 177 LuCl 3 .

14. The single dosage pharmaceutical composition of claim 10 , wherein the lutetium-177 is provided as no-carrier-added lutetium-177.

15. The single dosage pharmaceutical composition of claim 10 , wherein the pharmaceutical composition further includes 0.4 mg/mL diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA).

16. The method of claim 4 , wherein the lutetium-177 is provided as no-carrier-added lutetium-177.

17. The method of claim 4 , wherein the pharmaceutical composition further includes at least 0.4 mg/mL diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA).