radiopharmaceutical

noun

ra·​dio·​phar·​ma·​ceu·​ti·​cal ˌrā-dē-ō-ˌfär-mə-ˈsü-ti-kəl How to pronounce radiopharmaceutical (audio)
: a radioactive drug used for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes
radiopharmaceutical adjective

Examples of radiopharmaceutical in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web There are now about 75 startups developing radiopharmaceuticals, several of which raised substantial funding rounds this year. Damian Garde Reprints, STAT, 8 Nov. 2023 While Novartis, among the pioneers in radiopharmaceuticals, reported data suggesting its medicine for prostate cancer could transform from a treatment used after chemotherapy to one with demonstrated benefits beforehand as well. Damian Garde, STAT, 24 Oct. 2023 In the past decade, however, the Food and Drug Administration has approved several drugs called radiopharmaceuticals that use a more precise approach. Jonathan Saltzman, BostonGlobe.com, 3 May 2023 In this case, clinicians estimated that all of the radiopharmaceutical may have ended up in the patient’s arm tissue. Daniel Fass, STAT, 30 Dec. 2021 An extravasation of the same radiopharmaceutical into a patient’s arm was presented at a recent Health Physics Society meeting. Daniel Fass, STAT, 30 Dec. 2021 Its headquarters was moved to London after GE bought Amersham plc, which makes radiopharmaceutical products used in diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine procedures, in 2003. Guy Boulton, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 23 Jan. 2020 And it can be incorporated into a variety of chemicals, called radiopharmaceuticals, that accumulate preferentially in different bodily organs. The Economist, 23 Nov. 2019 Interested in medical research, Mrs. Buchanan came to the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1959, where her first job was in nuclear medicine, then an emerging specialty, working in the lab performing experiments related to radiopharmaceutical development. Frederick N. Rasmussen, baltimoresun.com, 14 Oct. 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'radiopharmaceutical.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1952, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of radiopharmaceutical was in 1952

Dictionary Entries Near radiopharmaceutical

Cite this Entry

“Radiopharmaceutical.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/radiopharmaceutical. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Medical Definition

radiopharmaceutical

1 of 2 noun
ra·​dio·​phar·​ma·​ceu·​ti·​cal ˌrād-ē-ō-ˌfär-mə-ˈsüt-i-kəl How to pronounce radiopharmaceutical (audio)
: a radioactive drug used for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes

radiopharmaceutical

2 of 2 adjective
: of, relating to, or being a radiopharmaceutical
radiopharmaceutical agents

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