Good practices for Zr radiopharmaceutical production and quality control.

Background: During the previous two decades, PET imaging of biopharmaceuticals radiolabeled with zirconium-89 has become a consistent tool in preclinical and clinical drug development and patient selection, primarily due to its advantageous physical properties that allow straightforward radiolabeling of antibodies (Zr-immuno-PET). The extended half-life of 78.4 h permits flexibility with respect to the logistics of tracer production, transportation, and imaging and allows imaging at later points in time.