{"entity":{"id":"re-188-sct","kind":"drug","name":"Rhenium-188 skin cancer therapy","aka":["Rhenium-SCT","188Re epidermal radionuclide therapy"],"tldr":"A radioactive paste is spread over a thin film placed on top of a skin cancer. The radiation only travels a few millimetres, so it treats the visible tumour without surgery, cutting, or affecting deeper tissue.","summary":"Rhenium-SCT (Skin Cancer Therapy) is a non-invasive, single-session epidermal brachytherapy for non-melanoma skin cancer (basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma), developed by OncoBeta. Rhenium-188 (half-life about 17 hours) is produced on demand from a tungsten-188/rhenium-188 generator and formulated as a resin that is applied to an adhesive foil placed over the lesion, so the radioactive material never directly contacts the skin. A typical prescribed dose is 50 Gy to the deepest point of the lesion (target depth up to about 3 mm).\n\nThe device and compound are registered in Australia (ARTG, class IIb, from 2020-2022) and hold CE marking, with use reported across Europe, the UK, New Zealand and South Africa; it does not have FDA approval. A single-arm, multicentre phase 4 post-marketing study (EPIC-Skin) reported, at 12 months, lesion-based complete response in 94.1% and partial response in 3.2% of 185 evaluable lesions, with no toxicities above CTCAE grade 2 and favourable cosmetic and quality-of-life outcomes; an earlier Italian series (Castellucci et al., EJNMMI Physics) reported 98% complete lesion response at 6 months in 54 evaluable lesions.\n\nBecause treatment is external and the isotope's beta range is only a few millimetres, Rhenium-SCT is positioned for lesions ≤3 mm deep and ≤8 cm2 in difficult-to-treat cosmetic or functional sites (nose, ear, lip, digits, genitals) where surgery or conventional external-beam radiotherapy is less attractive.","status":"approved","asOf":"2026-09-22","links":[{"label":"OncoBeta: Rhenium-SCT technology overview","url":"https://www.oncobeta.com/technology/"},{"label":"EPIC-Skin phase 4 study, 12-month results (PMC, 2025)","url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12197855/"},{"label":"Castellucci et al., high-dose brachytherapy with non-sealed 188Re for non-melanoma skin cancer, EJNMMI","url":"https://www.healthcert.com/hubfs/EJNMMI%20Castellucci%20-%20Savoia%20et%20al.%202020.pdf"},{"label":"Australian MSAC public summary document on Rhenium-188 brachytherapy for skin cancer","url":"https://www.msac.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-07/1657.1_final_psd_-_april_2025_-_redacted.pdf"}],"tags":["brachytherapy","skin cancer","beta emitter","non-invasive"],"related":["re-188"],"indications":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["ldr-seed-brachytherapy"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"brand":"Rhenium-SCT","modality":"brachytherapy source","mechanism":"A resin containing the beta- and gamma-emitting radioisotope rhenium-188 is applied directly to the skin over a thin protective foil moulded to the shape of a non-melanoma skin lesion. Beta particles penetrate only a few millimetres, delivering a high local dose to the tumour (about 92% of the dose within 2 mm) while a single outpatient application typically lasts under an hour.","approvals":[{"region":"EU/UK/AU/NZ/ZA","year":2015,"indication":"Shallow (≤3 mm deep) basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma without perineural invasion or high-risk pathology","note":"CE marking and national device registrations; not FDA approved"}],"mechanismSteps":[],"dosing":{"route":"Topical epidermal application (resin on adhesive foil placed over the lesion)","schedule":"Single outpatient session, typically prescribing 50 Gy to the deepest point of the lesion","source":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12197855/"},"toxicity":[],"access":[],"regulatoryEvents":[]},"route":"/drugs/re-188-sct/","neighbours":{"isotope":[{"id":"re-188","kind":"isotope","name":"Rhenium-188","route":"/isotopes/re-188/"}],"technology":[{"id":"ldr-seed-brachytherapy","kind":"technology","name":"Low-dose-rate seed brachytherapy","route":"/technologies/ldr-seed-brachytherapy/"}]}}