Patients in the Far East are being forced to travel thousands of kilometers for diagnostics as radiopharmaceutical supplies are suspended
Cancer patients in Russia’s Far Eastern Primorsky Region are losing access to vital scans as supplies of essential radiopharmaceuticals have been halted due to Western sanctions, according to local health authorities. The situation has forced patients to seek treatment thousands of kilometers away.
More than 120 oncology patients from Primorsky Region have been referred to facilities in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Novosibirsk for positron emission tomography (PET) scans, the regional health ministry said in a statement released last week. The disruption stems from sanctions imposed on Russia following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, which have affected the flow of medicines and medical equipment.
Although humanitarian items such as pharmaceuticals are technically exempt from the sanctions, financial and logistical restrictions have created significant barriers. They include difficulties with transactions and interruptions in the supply chain for critical drugs and their components.
The Khabarovsk Regional Oncology Center has officially announced that it will suspend PET scans for cancer patients because it can no longer obtain the necessary supplies. The specific radiopharmaceutical fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG), previously produced in Khabarovsk, is now unavailable. Previously, PET diagnostics were conducted using isotopes delivered from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok, allowing for early detection of cancer.
According to the oncology center, supplier GE HealthCare Pharma has stopped deliveries of special cassettes required to produce the radioactive tracing agent. In a statement, the center noted that the supplier had warned of a temporary shortage, stating shipments would be delayed until August 2025. However, the expected delivery did not occur.
GE HealthCare Pharma attributed the supply failure to US and European Union sanctions on Russia and related logistical challenges.
