Radioactive substances have been used for cancer treatment ever since they were discovered.

Radium 223 is one such substance. Unlike many other radioactive isotopes, it is a very short acting radioactive substance. Within a matter of few weeks, it loses its radioactivity rapidly.

Radium 223 is an injectable form of radium. When injected into the veins, it preferentially goes to the bones.

It has been shown to help PROSTATE cancer patients whose cancer has spread to the bones. It is often used in PROSTATE cancer patients, after chemotherapy and hormone therapy treatments have failed.

In a recent study, Radium 223 was evaluated in KIDNEY cancer patients who have bone secondary cancer. The study is being presented at the Annual meeting of American Association of Clinical oncology in Chicago ( June 2026).

In this study, KIDNEY cancer patients with bone secondaries ( bone metastasis) were either given cabozantib tablets on its own or cabozantib tablets + Radium 223 injections.

The primary end point of the study was unfortunately negative. Bone related problems not difficult between the two groups .

But the survival rates are intriguing. Overall survival numbers are better for Radium group with 32 months of survival versus 21 months for cabozantib only group.

It is a small study and survival results were not statistically significant. So it could be only regarded as hypothesis generating rather than practice changing.

Hopefully future trials will look at role of Radium 223 in advanced Kidney cancer patients who have bone metastasis.

Take away points from presentation.

References

ASCO 2026 Annual meeting. 2:45 – 2:57 PM CDTA phase 2 randomized trial of radium-223 dichloride and cabozantinib in patients (pts) with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with bone metastases (BM): RADICAL (Alliance A031801).Rana R. McKay, MD, FASCOUC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. Abstract 4500

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