{"entity":{"id":"sc-47","kind":"isotope","name":"Scandium-47","aka":["47Sc","Sc-47"],"tldr":"A radioactive metal being developed to pair with imaging twins made of the same element, scandium-43 or scandium-44. Because it is the same chemical element used for both the scan and the treatment, the tracer should behave identically in both roles.","summary":"Scandium-47 decays by beta-minus emission with a half-life of about 3.35 days to stable titanium-47, releasing beta particles with a mean energy around 162 keV (maxima cited between about 440-600 keV depending on the source) and an imageable 159 keV gamma (about 68% abundance), giving a mean tissue range broadly comparable to lutetium-177.\n\nIts intended theranostic partners are the positron emitters scandium-43 (half-life 3.89 hours) and scandium-44 (half-life about 4.04 hours), which would let the same chelator-conjugated ligand be imaged by PET and then dosed with 47Sc using identical chemistry -- an isotopic match analogous to the 64Cu/67Cu copper pair, though scandium's shorter-lived PET isotopes make routine same-day imaging-then-therapy workflows more logistically demanding.\n\n47Sc can be produced in a reactor either directly by fast-neutron irradiation of enriched titanium-47, 47Ti(n,p)47Sc, or indirectly via thermal-neutron capture on enriched calcium-46 to form calcium-47 (half-life 4.54 days), which beta-decays to 47Sc and can also serve as a 47Ca/47Sc generator; it can also be made in a cyclotron by proton irradiation of titanium-48, 48Ti(p,2n)47Sc, though this route has shown lower radionuclidic purity due to co-produced scandium-46 and -48. Production remains at research-reactor and pilot scale (for example, the PRISMAP network's ILL, SCK CEN and NCBJ reactors), and 47Sc-labelled radiopharmaceuticals are in early preclinical and clinical development, not yet FDA- or EMA-approved.","status":"preclinical","asOf":"2026-09-22","links":[{"label":"Production of scandium radionuclides for theranostic applications (EJNMMI Radiopharm Chem, 2021)","url":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41181-021-00131-2"},{"label":"47Sc as useful beta-minus-emitter for the radiotheragnostic paradigm (PMC, 2017)","url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5824697/"},{"label":"Production and purification of 43Sc and 47Sc from enriched titanium targets (Sci Rep, 2023)","url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10730517/"},{"label":"PRISMAP: 47Sc radionuclide portfolio page","url":"https://www.prismap.eu/radionuclides/portfolio/47Sc/"}],"tags":["therapy","beta emitter","gamma emitter","research-only","theranostic pair"],"related":["lu-177","prrt"],"indications":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"symbol":"47Sc","element":"Scandium","massNumber":47,"halfLife":"3.35 days","emissions":["β− mean 162 keV","γ 159 keV (~68%)"],"emissionClass":"beta-minus","use":"therapy","tissueRange":"Comparable to 177Lu (sub-millimetre to low-millimetre beta range)","production":"Reactor: thermal-neutron capture on enriched calcium-46, 46Ca(n,γ)47Ca (t1/2 4.54 d) → β− → 47Sc; or fast-neutron irradiation of enriched titanium-47, 47Ti(n,p)47Sc. Also cyclotron 48Ti(p,2n)47Sc.","supply":"research-only","supplyNote":"Produced at research-reactor, gigabecquerel/pilot scale (e.g. PRISMAP network reactors ILL, SCK CEN, NCBJ); not yet available at routine clinical-supply scale.","chelators":["DOTA","DOTATOC/DOTATATE-type macrocycles"],"pairedWith":["ga-68"]},"route":"/isotopes/sc-47/","neighbours":{"isotope":[{"id":"lu-177","kind":"isotope","name":"Lutetium-177","route":"/isotopes/lu-177/"}],"technology":[{"id":"prrt","kind":"technology","name":"Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT)","route":"/technologies/prrt/"}]}}