Targeted alpha therapy (TAT) is a growing field in medicinal chemistry owing to the ability of alpha particles to selectively deliver radiation to tumour cells. In the past year, these research efforts have resulted in clinical trials in TAT using 225Ac, 212Pb, 223Ra, and 211At as alpha emitters.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References
Filosofov, D., Baimukhanova, A., Khushvaktov, J., Kurakina, E. & Radchenko, V. Potent candidates for targeted alpha therapy (TAT). Nucl. Med. Biol. 146–147, 109027 (2025).
Almasi, S. et al. Combinatorial effect of the PSMA targeted alpha therapeutic, [225Ac]-FPI-2265, and olaparib in a pre-clinical prostate cancer tumor model. J. Nucl. Med. 65, 241556 (2024).
Saboury, B. et al. Abstract CT107: A phase 1a/b, open-label, dose-escalation study of 225Ac-ABD147 for locally advanced or metastatic small cell lung cancer and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the lung following platinum-based chemotherapy. Cancer Res. 85, CT107 (2025).
Tombal, B. et al. Enzalutamide plus radium-223 in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer: results of the EORTC 1333/PEACE-3 trial. Ann. Oncol. Off. J. Eur. Soc. Med. Oncol. 36, 1058–1067 (2025).
Saidi, A. et al. Side-by-side comparison of the in vivo performance of [212Pb]Pb-DOTAMTATE and other SSTR2-targeting compounds. J. Nucl. Med. 66, 391–397 (2025).
Watabe, T. et al. Phase I investigator-initiated clinical trial of targeted alpha therapy using [At]NaAt for refractory thyroid cancer (Alpha-T1 trial). J. Nucl. Med. 66, 251278 (2025).
Joho, T. et al. Extended single-dose toxicity study of [211At]meta-astatobenzylguanidine in normal mice in preparation for the first-in-human clinical trial of targeted alpha therapy for pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma. Ann. Nucl. Med. 39, 994–1013 (2025).
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the support of the Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division, Heavy Element Chemistry Program at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) under contract DE-AC02-05CH11231.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Selvam, A., Green, B.D. Bringing atoms to bedside with targeted alpha therapy. Nat Rev Chem 10, 7–8 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-025-00782-8
Published:
Version of record:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-025-00782-8