Tracers / [18F]FET

[18F]FET

Also written as [18F]FET; [18F]fluoroethyltyrosine; [F-18]FET; [F-18]fluoroethyltyrosine; F-18 FET; F-18-FET; FET
Radionuclide
F-18 t½ 109.7 min
Modality
PET
Production route
Cyclotron liquid target
Stage
Clinical research
Syntheses indexed
23

What it is

Compound class
Amino acid
Target / mechanism
System L amino-acid transport (LAT1) PMID 30519867 / DOI 10.1007/s00259-018-4207-9
Clinical application
Glioma grading and delineation; recurrence versus treatment change PMID 30519867 / DOI 10.1007/s00259-018-4207-9
Theranostic pair

Regulatory status

FDA
No Drugs@FDA / openFDA drug registry — no approved application found; search: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/daf/index.cfm?event=BasicSearch.process&searchTerm=fluoroethyltyrosine
EMA (centralised)
No EMA medicines register — no centrally authorised medicine containing fluoroethyl-tyrosine (18F); search: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines?search_api_fulltext=fluoroethyl-tyrosine
Other approvals
Not centrally authorised by EMA, but holds national marketing authorisations in EU/EEA member states (also approved in Switzerland). Example (official national register): France — IASOglio, fluoroethyl-L-tyrosine (18F), marketing authorisation active since 23/12/2015, holder Curium Austria GmbH.
Brand names

Clinical use

Typical injected activity
185-200 MBq (fixed adult dose, glioma guideline) PMID 30519867 / DOI 10.1007/s00259-018-4207-9
Uptake time
Static: 20-min acquisition from 20 min post-injection; or 40-50 min dynamic acquisition from injection (glioma guideline) PMID 30519867 / DOI 10.1007/s00259-018-4207-9

Reported in the literature. Not a dosing recommendation.

Published syntheses

ModuleCassettePurificationYield %RCP %Precursor / supplierSource
ELIXYS FLEX/CHEMHPLC35-55%
yes
> 99%40980735
2025 Am J Nucl Med Mol Imaging
Sofie ELIXYS — The radiochemical yield of [18F]FET was 35-55% and 30-55% decay corrected to start of synthesis (SOS) for Sofie ELIXYS and GE FASTlab 2, respectively.
FASTlab 2SPE30-55%
yes
> 99%40980735
2025 Am J Nucl Med Mol Imaging
GE FASTlab 2 — The radiochemical yield of [18F]FET was 35-55% and 30-55% decay corrected to start of synthesis (SOS) for Sofie ELIXYS and GE FASTlab 2, respectively.
AllinOne (AiO)
Trasis
vendor cassetteHPLC49-52
no
>95%O-(2-tosyloxyethyl)-N-trityl-L-tyrosine-tert-butyl ester (TET)40573166
2025 Pharmaceuticals (Basel)
automated Trasis AllinOne module — achieved a non-corrected yield between 49% and 52%
AllinOne (AiO)
Trasis
46 ± 3%N-Trt, O-tBu-protected tosylate precursor38747353
2024 Mol Pharm
[18F]FET was prepared according to a known procedure41 in an AllInOne automated synthesis module (Trasis, Ans, Belgium) — which afforded the probe in activity yields of 46 ± 3% within 53 ± 1 min (calculated based on five representative radiosyntheses).
31891883
2020 Nucl Med Biol
In-house / custom built
in-house
custom manifoldHPLC55 ± 7%
yes
>98%(2S)-O-(2′-tosyloxyethyl)-N-trityl-tyrosine-tert-butyl ester (TET)
ABX
31893318
2019 EJNMMI Radiopharm Chem
the synthesis was carried out in microvolume droplets manipulated on a disposable patterned silicon “chip” affixed to a heater — The microdroplet synthesis exhibited an overall decay-corrected radiochemical yield of 55 ± 7% (n = 4) after purification and formulation.
In-house / custom built
in-house
custom manifoldHPLC54 ± 6%
yes
(2S)-O-(2′-tosyloxyethyl)-N-trityl-tyrosine-tert-butyl ester (TET)
ABX
31893318
2019 EJNMMI Radiopharm Chem
We also performed the synthesis using the automated droplet radiosynthesizer (i.e. with the passive transport microfluidic chips) and observed a crude decay-corrected RCY of 54 ± 6% (n = 5) — observed a crude decay-corrected RCY of 54 ± 6% (n = 5)
HPLC>99.5%N-trityl-O-(2-tosyloxyethyl)-L-tyrosine-tert-butyl ester31673030
2019 Sci Rep
79 ± 0 %31891883
2020 Nucl Med Biol
HPLC29520821
2018 J Labelled Comp Radiopharm
10.7 ± 4.7% (10 mg, n = 3)
yes
>95%TET precursor37408511
2023 J Labelled Comp Radiopharm
automated (MX Tracerlab) module (n = 6) — The decay corrected average yield was 10.7 ± 4.7% (10 mg, n = 3) and 8.2 ± 2.6% (2 mg, n = 3) with automated chemistry module
36.7 ± 7.3% (8-10 mg, n = 12)
yes
>95%TET precursor37408511
2023 J Labelled Comp Radiopharm
semiautomated (FX2N Tracerlab) module (n = 19) — 36.7 ± 7.3% (8-10 mg, n = 12), 26.4 ± 3.1% (5-7 mg, n = 4), and 35.1 ± 3.8% (2-4 mg, n = 3) with semiautomated chemistry modules
14 ± 2.2%desmethyl labeling precursor and [18F]fluoroethyl tosylate33412382
2021 Appl Radiat Isot
32877862
2020 Appl Radiat Isot
20-25%
yes
>99%31442794
2019 Appl Radiat Isot
using our home-built automated multi-purpose 18F-radiosynthesis module — 20-25% radiochemical yield decay corrected to end of bombardment (EOB), based on H[18F]F
25±5%
no
more than 99%29275040
2018 Appl Radiat Isot
commercially available fully automated GRP SCINTOMICS module — non-decay corrected yield 25±5% in about 55min
SPE24.6 ± 2%>98%Ni(II)-(S)-BPB-l-Tyr-O-CH2-CH2-OTs28570917
2017 Appl Radiat Isot
41%Resin-linker-vector (RLV) 8a,b23255371
2013 Chemistry
70-90%21989864
2012 Nuklearmedizin
HPLC55±5%
yes
>99%O-(2-tosyloxyethyl)-N-trityl-L-tyrosine tert-butylester21718939
2011 Nucl Med Biol
GE TracerLab FX(FN) synthesis module — 35±5% (n=22) yield non-decay-corrected (55±5% decay-corrected)
SPE41%
yes
97%-100%L-tyrosine21718940
2011 Nucl Med Biol
using a modified [(11)C]methionine module (Nuclear Interface) — The synthesis typically yielded 41% (21 experiments) of FET (d.c.) without an HPLC purification step.
SPE45%
no
>99%2-bromoethyl triflate19804977
2009 Bioorg Med Chem
HPLC40-45%
yes
Ni-(S)-BPB-(S)-Tyr-OCH2CH2X (X=OTs (3a))18378460
2008 Bioorg Med Chem
Overall synthesis time operated by Anatech RB 86 laboratory robot was 55min. — tosyl derivative 3a provided highest radiochemical yield (40-45%, corrected for radioactive decay)

Precursor

Common precursor
O-(2-tosyloxyethyl)-N-trityl-L-tyrosine tert-butyl ester (TET), 2-step radiolabelling; alternative 2-step route: [18F]fluorination of ethylene glycol-1,2-ditosylate then fluoroethylation of L-tyrosine (disodium salt) PMID 40573166 / DOI 10.3390/ph18060769
Suppliers seen in the literature
Cited suppliers in indexed syntheses
ABX
Typical final purification
SPE

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Quality control Pharmacopoeial monograph

Ph. Eur. monograph
2466
USP monograph
not verified — the USP-NF monograph index is subscription-only and no public confirmation was found
AppearancepHRCP HPLCHPLC UVResidual solvents (GC)KryptofixRadionuclidic (HPGe)Half-lifeActivityEndotoxins (LAL)SterilityFilter integrity
How this set was arrived at. Cross-checked against Ph. Eur. general monograph 0125 (base set), EANM validation guideline (PMC7016057) and cGRPP guidance (PMC7881071). Draft X-marks consistent with the base set; tracer-specific analytical tests follow the specific monograph where one exists.

Tests listed by reference only. Monograph texts are copyrighted and are not reproduced here. How these are derived

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Notes

Standard neuro-oncology tracer in Europe; national marketing authorisations in some EU states.