About Theragenics brachytherapy

In the early years, the company’s strategy was to identify those cancers whose cure rates had not improved significantly in the previous two decades, that were consistently diagnosed as inoperable, or that had claimed increasingly more lives – then to develop products to treat those cancers. Theragenics developed TheraSeed®, a rice-sized titanium-encapsulated device based on the palladium-103 radioactive isotope, which is implanted percutaneously using ultrasound guidance. While radioactive iodine-125 and other isotopes had been used for over 20 years, Theragenics researchers believed palladium-103 to be a desirable alternative to iodine-125 because of a much shorter half-life and higher initial dose rate.

Today, Theragenics brachytherapy seed products for treatment of early stage prostate cancer are sold in several countries and regions around the world, including the United States, EU, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and Singapore. It’s estimated that Theragenics’ TheraSeed® and AGX100® seed products have been used to treat over 240,000 men.

Previously, Theragenics performed research and development related to cancers other than prostate, as well as non-cancer diseases. While these development programs are no longer taking place, certain technologies and intellectual property that were developed are still used today. Since the early 1990’s TheraSeed® has been used as an alternative to enucleation for treating ocular melanoma, and today both TheraSeed® and AGX100® are available for eye plaque implants to treat this disease.

Through acquisitions and organic achievements, Theragenics continues to diversify and expand its capabilities and product offerings to address needs across multiple markets, including but not limited to, interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, vascular surgery, orthopedics, plastic surgery, dental surgery, urology, veterinary medicine, pain management, endoscopy, and spinal surgery.