When I first encountered the concept of “theranostics,” it sounded like science fiction — something between the genetics of the future and futurology in the spirit of Isaac Asimov. But science fiction quickly gave way to facts. Today, thanks to the interdisciplinary project Labex IRON, theranostics is becoming a real medical practice. Not a concept, not a theory, but a system that is already changing lives. A single drug that can both detect a disease and immediately begin to treat it — sounds incredible. But it is already happening, and it requires us to think about how the logic of medicine itself has changed and what awaits us next.
Theranostics – what is it and why is it needed
In traditional medicine, diagnostics and treatment are two separate stages. First, finding the disease, then fighting it. But this approach has a major flaw: time. For example, with malignant tumors, it can take weeks, and with neurodegenerative diseases, it can take months and years, during which the disease develops unnoticed, latently. Theranostics, on the contrary, combines both processes. The same drug can both highlight a pathological lesion during PET scanning and begin to affect it at the moment of detection.
This is the essence of the new approach: diagnostics becomes an integral part of therapy. This is not just convenient. It is a chance. Especially for those who are faced with aggressive, difficult to detect forms of diseases.
Radiopharmaceuticals as the basis for precision medicine
If we try to explain what theranostics is based on, then radiopharmaceuticals will be at the center – a field that combines nuclear physics, chemistry and medicine. The drug that is administered to the patient contains a radionuclide – a source of radiation that can be recorded using positron emission tomography (PET). But this is only the first part. At the same time, the molecule delivers an active substance to the tissue, which starts the healing process.
Radiopharmaceutical molecules can be adjusted to a specific target. They work like smart navigators: they find a tumor, penetrate inside and leave a “charge” there that begins to destroy cells. All this without large-scale side effects, without a total blow to the body – unlike traditional chemotherapy, which affects not only the sick, but also the healthy.
These are the drugs that Labex IRON , a French scientific consortium that brings together major research centers, medical laboratories, and universities, is working on. Their goal is to create products that can be used for both diagnostics and treatment, especially in oncology and neurology, where early intervention is critical.
Why is this important today?
Modern medicine is increasingly moving towards a personalized approach. This means that universal treatment plans are becoming a thing of the past. Instead, therapy is selected based on the molecular profile of a specific patient. And theranostics fits perfectly into this trend. It allows the doctor to see how the drug works in real time. Has the situation improved? Is there a response? If not, the direction is adjusted. If yes, a successful tactic is recorded and treatment continues.
For patients, this means less stress, fewer unnecessary tests, fewer blind attempts. People don’t have to wait weeks between learning about a diagnosis and starting treatment. Everything happens faster, more accurately, and with greater attention to individual characteristics.
This works especially impressively in the treatment of brain tumors, where it is critical not to affect healthy tissue. Or in Parkinson’s disease, where changes can be tracked long before external symptoms appear. In both cases, early diagnosis gives a head start, and targeted action minimizes the consequences.
Infrastructure built by Labex IRON
Of course, such technologies do not arise out of nowhere. Labex IRON has a powerful infrastructure, which includes the Arronax and Cyrcé cyclotron centers, capable of producing rare isotopes, including promising alpha-emitting elements. New molecules are being developed, preclinical and clinical studies are being conducted. All this is part of a large ecosystem that unites scientists, doctors, pharmacologists and engineers.
Each project within Labex IRON is not just research for the sake of publication. It is a step towards bringing a new molecule to the patient, so that the technology is not a showcase, but a tool for practical medicine. It is especially important that many solutions are developed with an eye on rare and complex diseases, where other approaches no longer work.
The future is already here
What until recently seemed like a complex theoretical construct is now moving beyond the laboratory and into clinical practice. Theranostics is not an abstract idea. It is a living, working system that already today helps doctors see and act more accurately. It helps patients be treated faster and with fewer losses. It helps science rethink the boundaries between technology and care.
Labex IRON demonstrates that theranostics is not just the next step in medicine. It is a new philosophy: to treat by understanding. To see before you harm. To react before it is too late. And if this is not a revolution, then what is?