Newcastle & Oxford Set To Benefit From New Technology to Diagnose Disease

• Curium will shortly open a new facility to manufacture cutting-edge diagnosis technology for diseases like cancer at the Churchill Hospital site, part of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
• Newcastle University has entered into a lease agreement with Curium for a new site dedicated to the manufacture of cutting-edge diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals for diseases such as cancer.
• Curium is a world-leading nuclear medicine group with decades of expertise.
• These new manufacturing sites are expected to provide radionuclides for PET scans and increase access to patients who require neuroimaging or cancer diagnosis.

(London, UK – 8 October, 2025) – Curium are opening two new sites to manufacture cutting-edge diagnosis technology.  These facilities will supply positron emission tomography (PET) tracers, an essential part of the process to diagnose diseases like cancer.

PET tracers are short-lived radioactive substances used in medical imaging. They accumulate in specific tissues according to physiological processes – such as glucose metabolism, receptor expression or blood flow – enabling physicians to detect cancers and other serious medical conditions with exceptional sensitivity.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle University are hosting Curium, a world-leading nuclear medicine group, to establish these facilities and have them operational by mid-2026.  The facilities are expected to be able to provide capacity to supply PET scanners in the midlands, greater London area and southwest of England for patients who require neuroimaging or cancer diagnosis.

Oxford and Newcastle, and surrounding areas, are among a number of parts of the country where patients have less access to certain types of scans used in the NHS.  Access to the right tests is a critical part of a patient’s journey from diagnosis to treatment and then recovery, with regional differences in services leaving people in many areas with longer to travel or limited ability to get checked.

In the past decade, Curium has significantly invested in PET capacity across England, helping to expand access to scans at over 25 sites.

Ruairi O’Donnell, General Manager UK & Ireland, Curium International, said: “Curium is proud to have played a part in the past decade in expanding access to essential tests for more people.  Nuclear technology plays a vital role in helping doctors to diagnose disease, and crucially, it has the potential to transform cancer treatment for up to 80% of cancers in the next 10-15 years.

“Our investment in Oxford and Newcastle, alongside other parts of the country, is a clear commitment from Curium that we are determined to increase access further and we’re proud to co-locate with the NHS to deliver on that goal.  As ministers work to reform the NHS, it is vital that they build in maximum possible capacity for PET scans to patients which may mean using multiple suppliers for maximum reach.”

These deals in Oxford and Newcastle were signed last year by Curium to boost supply of PET tracers in the southwest of England as it is another underserved part of the country for diagnostics.

The two additional facilities follow the company’s existing Hammersmith site in the west of the capital, serving the Greater London area.