Current status and future perspective of radiopharmaceuticals in China

Radiopharmaceuticals are essential components of nuclear medicine and serve as one of the cornerstones of molecular imaging and precision medicine. They provide new means and approaches for early diagnosis and treatment of diseases. After decades of development and hard efforts, a relatively matured radiopharmaceutical production and management system has been established in China with high-quality facilities. This review provides an overview of the current status of radiopharmaceuticals on production and distribution, clinical application, and regulatory supervision and also describes some important advances in research and development and clinical translation of radiopharmaceuticals in the past 10 years. Moreover, some prospects of research and development of radiopharmaceuticals in the near future are discussed. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00259-021-05615-6.