Plano company makes breakthrough on cancer treatment material

A Plano-based company has made a breakthrough in making materials in cancer treatment that help fight cancer cells from within the body.Actinide Inc. and Ytterbium-176Actinide Inc. is a Plano-based company that produces Ytterbium-176, a material that can be used for cancer drugs and providing fuel for nuclear reactors.Ytterbium-176 is made with the company's particle accelerator, named Endurance, by turning metal into plasma and accelerating it to the speed of light through a magnet.The material is worth around $30,000 for a gram.The particle accelerator also creates High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium, or HALEU, which can be used as fuel for small nuclear reactors.Novartis, which makes cancer-fighting drugs, uses Ytterbium-176 to create a targeted cancer treatment that delivers radiation directly into cancer cells to destroy them from within the body."This is the precursor material to a new wave of cancer therapeutics known as radio pharmaceuticals."Eric Olszewski, the CEO of Actinide Inc