Production and Semi-Automated Processing of (89)Zr Using a Commercially Available TRASIS MiniAiO Module

The increased interest in (89)Zr-labelled immunoPET imaging probes for use in preclinical and clinical studies has led to a rising demand for the isotope. The highly penetrating 511 and 909 keV photons emitted by (89)Zr deliver an undesirably high radiation dose, which makes it difficult to produce large amounts manually. Additionally, there is a growing demand for Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)-grade radionuclides for clinical applications. In this study, we have adopted the commercially available TRASIS mini AllinOne (miniAiO) automated synthesis unit to achieve efficient and reproducible batches of (89)Zr. This automated module is used for the target dissolution and separation of (89)Zr from the yttrium target material. The (89)Zr is eluted with a very small volume of oxalic acid (1.5 mL) directly over the sterile filter into the final vial. Using this sophisticated automated purification method, we obtained satisfactory amount of (89)Zr in high radionuclidic and radiochemical purities in excess of 99.99%. The specific activity of three production batches were calculated and was found to be in the range of 1351–2323 MBq/µmol. ICP-MS analysis of final solutions showed impurity levels always below 1 ppm.