Development and Validation of a GMP-Compliant High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography Method for the Determination of the Chemical and Radiochemical Purity of [(18)F]PSMA-1007, a PET Tracer for the Imaging of Prostate Cancer

For the PET imaging of prostate cancer, radiotracers targeting the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) are nowadays used in clinical practice. [(18)F]PSMA-1007, a radiopharmaceutical labeled with fluorine-18, has excellent properties for the detection of prostate cancer. Essential for the human use of a radiotracer is its production and quality control under GMP-compliance. For this purpose, all analytical methods have to be validated. [(18)F]PSMA-1007 is easily radiosynthesized in a one-step procedure and isolated using solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridges followed by formulation of a buffered injection solution and for the determination of its chemical and radiochemical purity a robust, fast and reliable quality control method using radio-HPLC is necessary. After development and optimizations overcoming problems in reproducibility, the here described radio-HPLC method fulfills all acceptance criteria—for e.g., specificity, linearity, and accuracy—and is therefore well suited for the routine quality control of [(18)F]PSMA-1007 before release of the radiopharmaceutical. Recently a European Pharmacopeia monograph for [(18)F]PSMA-1007 was published suggesting a different radio-HPLC method for the determination of its chemical and radiochemical purity. Since the here described method has certain advantages, not least of all easier technical implementation, it can be an attractive alternative to the monograph method. The here described method was successfully validated on several radio-HPLC systems in our lab and used for the analysis of more than 60 batches of [(18)F]PSMA-1007. Using this method, the chemical and radiochemical purity of [(18)F]PSMA-1007 can routinely be evaluated assuring patient safety.