  A novel method for the production of important medical radioisotopes has been
developed. The approach is based on performing the nuclear reaction in inverse
kinematics, namely sending a heavy-ion beam of appropriate energy on a light
target (e.g. H, d, He) and collecting the isotope of interest. In this work, as
a proof-of-concept, we studied the production of the theranostic radionuclide
67Cu (T 1/2 =62 h) via the reaction of a 70Zn beam at 15 MeV/nucleon with a
hydrogen gas target. The 67Cu radionuclide, alongside other coproduced
isotopes, was collected after the gas target on an Al catcher foil and their
radioactivity was measured by off-line {\gamma}-ray analysis. After 36 h from
the end of the irradiation, apart from the product of interest 67Cu, the main
radioimpurity coming from the 70Zn+p reaction was 69mZn (T 1/2 =13.8 h) that
can be reduced by further radio-cooling. Moreover, along with the radionuclide
of interest produced in inverse kinematics, the production of additional
radioisotopes is possible by making use of the forward-focused neutrons from
the reaction and letting them interact with a secondary target. A preliminary
successful test of this concept was realized in the present study. The main
requirement to obtain activities appropriate for preclinical studies is the
development of high-intensity heavy-ion primary beams.
