China's First Actinium-225 Mass Production Qualification Lands in Chongqing: SPIC Isotope Synergy Accelerates Breakthrough in High-End Medical Isotope Supply Chain Bottleneck

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment recently officially issued a Class A unsealed radioactive material radiation safety license to SPIC Isotope Synergy (Chongqing) Technology Co., Ltd. The issuance of this administrative license marks that the company has officially become the first enterprise in China with full-chain legal qualifications for the mass production, sales, and use of the medical isotope Actinium-225 (Ac-225), filling the gap in China's large-scale supply of novel targeted radionuclides.

SPIC Isotope Synergy is located in Bafu Town, Chongqing High-tech Zone, and has been selected for the 2026 Chongqing Potential Unicorn Enterprise Cultivation List. The first phase of the project has a total investment of 918 million RMB, with core technical equipment relying on two self-built high-power medical proton cyclotrons of 120 MeV and 50 MeV, planned for the large-scale preparation and separation of a series of high-difficulty, high-technical-value-added high-end medical radionuclides.

In the product planning matrix of this base, in addition to producing isotopes such as Radium-223, Germanium-68, Strontium-82, Copper-67, and Iodine-123, the most strategically significant capacity core is the alpha (α) emitter isotope Actinium-225. As the most core raw material currently used in the global nuclear medicine community for Targeted Alpha Therapy (TAT) against intermediate and advanced malignant tumors, this radionuclide possesses extremely strong targeted killing power and extremely low damage to surrounding tissues due to its high ray energy and short tissue range.

Currently, the global total annual supply capacity of Actinium-225 is severely limited, with total production of less than 8 Curies (Ci). Nuclide extraction and purification technologies have long been strictly blockaded by a small number of overseas institutions, causing the clinical research and development of many domestic cutting-edge anti-tumor radiopharmaceuticals to fall into the severe predicament of “raw materials controlled by others.” According to engineering capacity estimates, after the production base is fully operational, it is expected to release up to 188 Curies of annual Actinium-225 production capacity to the market, which is expected to completely end China's foreign dependence on this radionuclide and establish an autonomous and controllable raw material guarantee foundation.

To ensure the smooth implementation of this major nuclear-related frontier industrial project, the Chongqing Ecology and Environment Bureau, through early intervention in planning and site selection guidance, coordinated the carrying out of regional radiation environment baseline monitoring, and actively collaborated with national nuclear safety and radiation regulatory authorities, while strictly safeguarding the bottom line of radiation safety, compressed the approval circulation cycle, and fully empowered innovation in the nuclear technology application industry.

With the qualification landing of China's first commercial medical accelerator production line, the project is expected to generate an annual output value in the hundreds of millions of RMB and strongly radiate and drive the clustered development of upstream and downstream industrial chains in Chongqing and surrounding areas, including radiopharmaceutical screening and development, precursor molecular isotope labeling, and large-scale filling of sterile preparations. The Chongqing ecological and environmental authorities will subsequently continue to improve the full-cycle radiation safety regulatory system, with this project as the core chain-driving force, to accelerate the cultivation of a medical isotope industrial cluster with international competitiveness.