Radiopharmaceutical therapy is transforming clinical practice at an unprecedented rate. Here is the clinical evidence, market expansion, workforce training data, and educational rationale driving TracerONE Academy's inaugural program.
1. Why Now?
Radiopharmaceutical care is expanding faster than pharmacy education.
For decades, nuclear pharmacy has largely been viewed as a highly specialized branch of pharmacy — a relatively small workforce preparing and dispensing diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals for nuclear medicine.
That model is changing.
Radiopharmaceuticals are increasingly intersecting with precision medicine, oncology, advanced imaging, treatment selection, therapy, and longitudinal patient care. Radiopharmaceutical therapy is expanding into larger patient populations, new molecular targets and radionuclides are entering development, and theranostic strategies are beginning to extend beyond oncology.
The question is becoming less:
“How many students will become nuclear pharmacists?”
And increasingly:
“How much should every future pharmacist understand about radiopharmaceuticals?”
2. The Patient Population Is Expanding
Radiopharmaceutical therapy is moving earlier in disease.
Pluvicto is one of the clearest examples.
Novartis reported $1.994 billion in Pluvicto sales in 2025, an increase of 43% from 2024. Lutathera generated another $816 million, increasing 13%.
But the more important story is not revenue.
It is where these medications are moving in the treatment pathway.
In July 2026, the FDA expanded Pluvicto into PSMA-positive metastatic androgen pathway modulation-naïve or -sensitive prostate cancer in combination with androgen receptor pathway inhibitor therapy — bringing radioligand therapy into a substantially earlier stage of prostate cancer.
$1.994B
Pluvicto 2025 sales
+43%
Pluvicto year-over-year sales growth
$816M
Lutathera 2025 sales
“More patients are becoming candidates for radiopharmaceutical therapy — and those patients will encounter pharmacists throughout the healthcare system, not only inside nuclear pharmacies.”
Radiopharmaceutical research is expanding across new molecular targets, new ligands, and new radionuclides, including emerging alpha-emitting therapies.
Theranostics itself is also beginning to move beyond oncology.
A 2025 review in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology describes emerging non-oncologic applications involving cardiology, neurology, autoimmune disease, inflammatory disease, and bone marrow disorders — including research involving atherosclerosis, cardiac amyloidosis, Alzheimer disease, and targeted inflammatory processes.
Approved Standard of Care
ONCOLOGY
Established clinical core spanning neuroendocrine tumors and prostate cancer, with expanding solid tumor targets.
Emerging & Investigational
CARDIOLOGY
Active translational research into atherosclerosis plaque characterization, cardiac amyloidosis, and myocardial viability.
Emerging & Investigational
NEUROLOGY
Investigational molecular targeting and theranostic approaches spanning Alzheimer disease and neurodegenerative biomarkers.
Emerging & Investigational
INFLAMMATORY DISEASE
Targeted molecular probes under investigation for localized and systemic inflammatory conditions.
Emerging & Investigational
AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE
Early-stage research evaluating immune-mediated pathways, rheumatoid synovitis, and bone marrow disorders.
Diagnostic Platform
MOLECULAR IMAGING
High-precision PET and SPECT tracers providing in vivo phenotypic validation and theranostic pairing across disease states.
Note: Non-oncology applications represent emerging and investigational research areas and do not reflect currently approved radiopharmaceutical treatments.
“Radiopharmaceuticals are becoming a platform for molecularly targeted diagnosis and treatment.”
References & Supporting Evidence
Johnson SL, Gibbons SR, Nielsen CJ. “Theranostics Beyond Oncology: Emerging Applications.” Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology. 2025. PubMed: 41344825
4. The Workforce Is Already Responding
Training is expanding as theranostics expands.
The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging states that as radiopharmaceutical therapy rapidly transforms patient care, the need for highly trained nuclear medicine professionals has never been greater.
SNMMI has developed Therapy Intensive programs and launched a Technologist Theranostics Certificate Program with a standardized educational pathway and hands-on training intended to prepare nuclear medicine technologists to support theranostic procedures safely and effectively.
SNMMI InitiativeNuclear Medicine Workforce Training Evolution
The nuclear medicine workforce is proactively building standardized educational pathways to meet the operational and clinical demands of modern radiopharmaceutical therapies.
If the practice of nuclear medicine is evolving, pharmacy education should be asking the same question:
“What knowledge will pharmacists need for the next generation of radiopharmaceutical care?”
The literature is already pointing toward a broader pharmacist role.
Traditionally, nuclear pharmacists have focused heavily on radiopharmaceutical procurement, preparation, compounding, quality assurance, dispensing, distribution, and safe handling.
Theranostics is creating room for pharmacists with radiopharmaceutical expertise to contribute more deeply to clinical assessment, medication management, treatment coordination, patient education, adverse-effect monitoring, and the broader care of nuclear medicine patients.
A 2025 peer-reviewed article describes the nuclear pharmacist as a critical but underrecognized member of the theranostics workforce and highlights the value of expertise spanning radiochemistry, pharmacology, regulation, and patient care.
A 2024 Journal of Nuclear Medicine article similarly argues that the rapid growth and increasing complexity of radiopharmaceutical therapy creates new opportunities for pharmacists with radiopharmaceutical expertise to participate more directly in clinical care.
Pharmacists are trained to understand the whole medication. Radiopharmaceuticals should be no exception.
For apixaban, pharmacists learn far more than how it is dispensed. They study the disease, mechanism, pharmacokinetics, clinical evidence, patient selection, interactions, reversal, monitoring, counseling, and follow-up.
LUTATHERA deserves that same depth. Its use connects molecular targeting and diagnostic imaging with somatostatin analog timing, antiemetics, renal-protective amino acids, toxicity monitoring, radiation precautions, and post-treatment care. [8]
TracerONE helps pharmacy students understand the entire radiopharmaceutical story—from molecular target to patient follow-up.
References & Supporting Evidence
Weatherman KD, Dragotakes SC, Mastascusa N. “The Nuclear Pharmacist’s Perspective.” Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology. 2025. PubMed: 41344823
Laverdière I, Matte G, Darveau M, Beauregard JM. “Nuclear Pharmacy Training in the Era of Theranostics: Toward Meeting the Needs of Nuclear Medicine Patients for Comprehensive Pharmaceutical Care.” Journal of Nuclear Medicine. 2024; 65(8):1330–1334. snmjournals.org/content/65/8/1330
Specialty training exists. Baseline PharmD education is a different question.
Established pathways already exist for pharmacists pursuing specialized nuclear pharmacy practice, including Authorized Nuclear Pharmacist training and advanced specialty education.
Those pathways are important — but they address a specialized objective:
Specialty Education
“How do I train for specialized nuclear pharmacy practice?”
Addresses Authorized Nuclear Pharmacist (ANP) qualification under 10 CFR 35.55, specialized compounding, hot-lab operation, and advanced radiopharmacy practice.
Baseline Education
“What should every pharmacist understand about radiopharmaceuticals?”
TracerONE addresses the core clinical literacy, mechanisms of action, patient care coordination, biodistribution, and safety needed across modern healthcare settings.
“Not every pharmacy graduate needs to become a nuclear pharmacist. Every pharmacy graduate should understand radiopharmaceuticals.”
ACPE Standards 2025 emphasize producing pharmacists who are practice-ready and team-ready and recognize the need for pharmacy education to evolve alongside changes in professional practice.
However, current required ACPE standards do not explicitly identify nuclear pharmacy or radiopharmaceutical education as a required curricular area.
Understand the medicine. Follow it all the way to the patient.
Pharmacy students learn how medicines are designed, prepared, evaluated, and used in patient care. TracerONE is exploring how to apply that same depth of understanding to radiopharmaceuticals.
A radiopharmaceutical’s story does not end when it leaves the pharmacy. Its properties affect how it is measured and handled, how a patient is prepared, how an image is acquired or a treatment is delivered, and how the result is interpreted. Understanding those connections could give pharmacists a stronger voice across the full course of care.
From molecule to medicine
Explore radionuclide production, radiopharmaceutical design, manufacturing, preparation, quality testing, and distribution. Connect physical and chemical properties to what a medicine can do in the body.
From medicine to patient
Apply pharmacology, pathophysiology, and patient assessment to diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. Consider biodistribution, interactions, adjunct medications, treatment goals, monitoring, and patient education.
From administration to result
Understand the work surrounding the medicine: how nuclear medicine technologists prepare patients and acquire images; how physicists assess radiation, dosimetry, and safety; and how physicians, including interventional radiologists, deliver selected therapies. Follow what happens after administration and how the findings inform care.
From evidence to better care
Examine the research behind radiopharmaceuticals, how studies measure benefit and harm, and how imaging and treatment results guide the next decision for a patient.
Across the whole team
Use cases to connect these perspectives. A pharmacist should be able to ask better questions, recognize where medication decisions affect a procedure, and communicate effectively with the people responsible for each stage.
The aim: Give pharmacy students a way to understand radiopharmaceuticals as medicines and as part of a coordinated clinical process—from their creation through their effect on a patient.
Looking Ahead
The pharmacists who will practice during the next decade are sitting in pharmacy classrooms today.
Therapies are moving earlier in disease.
New radionuclides and molecular targets are entering development.
Theranostics is expanding beyond its traditional boundaries.
The nuclear medicine workforce is developing new training pathways.
The literature is pointing toward greater pharmacist involvement.
Pharmacy education has an opportunity to prepare for that future now.
“TracerONE is building the radiopharmaceutical education we believe the next generation of pharmacists will need.”
Inaugural Cohort
Be part of shaping nuclear pharmacy education.
TracerONE Academy is building a new educational opportunity for pharmacy students. Add your name to the student interest list to stay informed as we prepare to welcome our inaugural cohort.
Pharmacy Students
Explore Nuclear Pharmacy. Expand Your Future.
Interested in nuclear pharmacy, radiopharmaceuticals, imaging, or theranostics? Add your name to the student interest list.