Radioactive Pharmaceutical Delivery in California
Lab Carriers delivers radiopharmaceuticals throughout California with DOT hazmat-trained drivers, documented chain of custody, and routes timed to the scan rather than the pickup.
Request a Radiopharmaceutical Delivery Quote
Tell us the pickup site, the receiving department, and the calibration time in the message field, and we will confirm whether the window is achievable and what it costs. For STAT and redraw requests, call +1 (510) 916-1400Â – a dispatcher answers.
What to include
- Pickup site and receiving department
- Isotope and calibration time
- Whether the run is one-off, scheduled or STAT
Our Radioactive Pharmaceutical Delivery Capabilities
Six things that decide whether a dose arrives usable, and what each one actually means once the package is in the vehicle.
Hazmat Trained Drivers
Hazmat trained under 49 CFR Part 172 Subpart H. Retrained every three years. Background checked and 10-panel drug screened.
Type A Packages, Read Correctly
Most unit doses move as Type A packages under UN2915. Therefore we check package count, label category and transport index against the manifest first.
Routed From Calibration Time
For example, F-18 loses roughly half its activity every 110 minutes. So we build routes backwards from the injection time, not forwards from pickup.
California Class 7 Compliance
Because this is Class 7 material, we transport under 49 CFR Parts 171 through 180 and California 17 CCR section 30373. Our operation also holds CDPH Radiologic Health Branch registration.
Chain of Custody
So every handoff gets a signature and timestamp, at pickup and at delivery. Finally, a named person in the department takes the dose, not a loading dock.
STAT and Redraw Dispatch
A live dispatch line for failed QC, infiltrated injections and scanner delays, with a straight answer about whether the window is still makeable.
The clock starts before you hand us the package
Most courier requirements are distance problems. However, this one is a decay problem.
Indeed, most medical logistics targets the shortest route. However, nuclear medicine runs to a specific minute. In practice, the nuclear pharmacy draws a syringe with more activity than the prescription calls for, so that decay brings it down to exactly the prescribed activity at the calibration time printed on the label, which is set to the patient scheduled injection. As a result, arriving well before that time means the dose has to be re-assayed. Arrive after it and the activity has fallen under prescription, the technologist has to recalculate or decline it, and someone calls the patient.
Accordingly, we do not quote transit times. Instead, we schedule against the time the dose must be in the hot lab and work backward from that point.
Isotopes We Move, and What Each One Does to the Schedule
Half-life sets the route before anything else does. Here is how each one behaves in the vehicle.
Diagnostic isotopes
| Isotope | What that means for the run |
|---|---|
| F-18FDG, NaF, PSMA | A 110-minute half-life. Half the activity is gone before the second hour, so these move as dedicated same-morning runs inside a fixed radius of the cyclotron. Nothing else rides in the vehicle. |
| Ga-68DOTATATE, PSMA-11 | Roughly 68 minutes, so it is almost always eluted at the imaging site instead. When it does travel, the trip runs in minutes rather than hours. |
| Tc-99msestamibi, MDP, MAG3, MAA | Six hours, but decay is rarely the limit here. The reconstituted kit expires first, commonly between four and twelve hours, so we sequence the circuit to kit expiry rather than to mileage. |
| Mo-99generator parent | A 66-hour parent that feeds the Tc-99m generator. Generators follow a weekly calendar. However, they are heavier, carry higher activity, and need a different handling profile from unit doses. |
| I-123ioflupane, MIBG | At 13.2 hours, a full working day of margin. Therefore the scan schedule sets the pickup time, not the decay curve. |
| Cu-64DOTATATE | 12.7 hours gives half a day of margin. That makes a longer-haul run between regions viable. |
| In-111pentetreotide, WBC | 2.8 days, so we are working in days rather than hours. Custody documentation matters more than speed on these. |
| Tl-201 | 3.0 days and the same profile as In-111. We plan these around the department calendar. |
Therapy isotopes
| Isotope | What that means for the run |
|---|---|
| Y-90radioembolization | 64 hours, but the clock that matters is the booked IR suite. Miss the slot and the cost is a procedure, not a vial. |
| Lu-177DOTATATE, PSMA-617 | 6.65 days, so decay is not the risk. The dose belongs to one patient and one infusion appointment booked weeks ahead. |
| I-131 | 8.02 days. Handling governs here, not decay. Activity runs higher, and Yellow-III labels show up on these shipments. |
| Ac-225 | 9.9 days, scarce, and usually trial-governed. The chain-of-custody file is as much the deliverable as the dose. |
Not couriered as doses
No courier moves Rb-82 or N-13 as patient doses. The scanner elutes Rb-82 on site from a Sr-82 generator, and N-13 needs an on-site cyclotron. We move the generator instead.
Timings quoted are physical half-lives. In practice the usable window is whichever runs out first: decay, or the product labeled expiry.
How a Dose Actually Travels
- Dispatch confirms the order.
Before we assign a driver, we confirm the injection time, the receiving department, and who signs for it. Then we build the route from that. - Pickup at the radiopharmacy.
The pharmacy packages, surveys and labels the shipment. That is their license, not ours. Our driver then checks the package count, label category, transport index and shipping paper against the manifest. Only after that does it go in the vehicle. - Securement and segregation.
Our driver blocks and braces every package so nothing shifts. With labeled packages aboard, we also observe the separation distances in 49 CFR 177.842 between the load and the cab. In addition, we keep the vehicle total transport index within limits. - Direct routing, monitored.
We run radiopharmaceutical routes as dedicated trips. Consequently, your dose never sits on a consolidation dock waiting for a second stop. - Handoff inside the department.
Certainly not the loading dock, and not the front desk. Into the hot lab, to a named person, with a signature and a timestamp. - Documentation closes the loop.
Ultimately: pickup time, transit, delivery time, receiving signature. Available to the shipper and the receiving site.
Packaging, Labels, and What They Mean Once the Package Is in the Van
First, nuclear pharmacies do the packaging and the survey. Still, our job is to read that label correctly on arrival. Indeed, the category changes how we operate the vehicle.
Most diagnostic unit doses move as Type A packages under UN2915. Moreover, manufacturers build and test these to 49 CFR 173 Subpart I. Meanwhile, a returned or residual-activity container may move as an excepted package, UN2910. Type B covers activities above the A1 and A2 limits. Therefore it does not appear in routine unit-dose work.
Finally, every labeled package carries one of three categories, and the higher of two independent conditions decides which:
- RADIOACTIVE WHITE-I
Transport index zero, surface reading at or below 0.5 mrem per hour. - RADIOACTIVE YELLOW-II
Transport index above zero up to 1.0, surface reading up to 50 mrem per hour. - RADIOACTIVE YELLOW-III
Transport index above 1.0, surface reading up to 200 mrem per hour.
The transport index is the radiation level in mrem per hour measured one meter from the package surface, rounded up to the next tenth. It is not a hazard score for its own sake. It is what tells the carrier how much control the load needs. Most unit-dose work is White-I and Yellow-II. A Yellow-III package changes the shipment: the vehicle placards, and the driver requirements change with it. Instead, the driver verifies that label at the point of acceptance, not after arrival.
Who Regulates Radiopharmaceutical Transport in California
First, California is an NRC Agreement State. Under Section 274b of the Atomic Energy Act, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission handed licensing authority for byproduct material to the state. California Health and Safety Code section 115235 carries that agreement. In practice, the California Department of Public Health Radiologic Health Branch licenses and inspects the nuclear pharmacy you ship from. The NRC does not.
For transport, 17 CCR section 30373 applies. It pulls the federal scheme into California law: 10 CFR Part 71 and 49 CFR Parts 107, 171 through 180, and 390 through 397. California then adds its own substitutions. Separately, 17 CCR section 30180 covers carriers moving material for a licensed shipper. Nevertheless, they still meet every Group 4 transportation requirement.
Overall, these distinctions are operationally material. A carrier operating under another state framework cannot apply the same procedures in California, and we prefer to state the requirements that apply rather than assert general compliance.
Who We Deliver For
Nuclear Pharmacies
You are the shipper of record and the license holder. You need a carrier who shows up at the elution window, reads a transport index correctly, and does not put your license at risk. We work to your calibration times and your paperwork.
Hospital Nuclear Medicine and Imaging Centers
Above all, you need the dose in the hot lab before the patient is on the table. We deliver into the department, to a named person, with a timestamp, not to a loading dock.
PET and Radiopharmaceutical Manufacturers
Cyclotron output starts perishing at end of synthesis. Same-morning distribution across a defined radius, run as a dedicated route, is the only way that product reaches a scanner with prescription activity intact.
Clinical Trial and Theranostics Sponsors
Protocol-specified time windows, documented chain of custody, site-qualification paperwork, and a courier who understands that an unrepeatable dose is not a parcel.
Theranostics and Therapy Doses
Therapy, however, changes the risk profile completely.
A Lu-177 PSMA-617 dose has a 6.65-day half-life, so decay is not what keeps anyone awake. What matters is the appointment. The dose belongs to one patient, the clinic booked that infusion weeks ago, and nobody can simply redraw it tomorrow morning. Miss it and you are not out a vial. You are out a manufacturing slot and an authorization, and someone has to call the patient.
Similarly, Y-90 radioembolization attaches the same problem to a booked interventional radiology suite. Ac-225 adds trial documentation and genuine scarcity on top.
So we run therapy doses against the appointment, not the address: confirmed receiving contact before dispatch, dedicated vehicle, no consolidation, and delivery documentation that a sponsor or a pharmacy director can put in a file without follow-up questions.
STAT Runs, Redraws, and the 6 a.m. Phone Call
Doses occasionally fail, and even so, the clinical schedule does not accommodate it.
An injection infiltrates. Sometimes a scanner goes down and returns three hours later, past the window. On arrival, a dose fails QC. Meanwhile a patient who has been NPO since midnight is waiting, and the department needs another dose immediately.
In fact, that call is the most common reason imaging departments change couriers. When you call Lab Carriers, a dispatcher answers. There is no phone tree, no callback queue and no automated system taking the request. Dispatch then assigns a driver against the new injection time. If the decay calculation makes the window unachievable, we say so during the call. We will not accept the job and report a failure later that morning.
Weekends, Early Mornings and Holiday Coverage
For example, PET departments begin scanning early, and nuclear pharmacies elute before most businesses open. Saturday scan blocks happen every week. Moreover, Mo-99 generator deliveries follow their own calendar and never pause for a public holiday.
Lab Carriers staffs drivers on a shift basis around the clock, including weekends and holidays. Assigned personnel work these shifts. This is not an on-call arrangement that depends on who answers. We will provide the specific on-call and dispatch structure covering your route on request.
Our Drivers and Dedicated Assets
Lab Carriers has handled Class 7 radiopharmaceutical transport since we founded the company in 2018. We run this work on dedicated assets with assigned personnel. It never comes from general availability.
- Drivers train as hazmat employees under 49 CFR Part 172 Subpart H. That covers general awareness, function-specific, safety and security training. They retrain every three years, and we keep the records.
- Background checked, clean record, verified.
- 10-panel drug screened.
- We staff drivers on shifts around the clock, including weekends and holidays.
- We train drivers on the documentation as well as the driving. Drivers keep shipping papers within reach of the seat, as 49 CFR 177.817 requires. Emergency response information travels with them, and we provide a monitored number.
- Lab Carriers holds registration with the California Department of Public Health Radiologic Health Branch.
We do not claim certifications we do not hold. Instead, we confirm exactly what our drivers can do, and you can verify that record before you book.
Frequently Asked Questions
Scope and experience
Yes. Lab Carriers moves radiopharmaceuticals as Class 7 material under 49 CFR Parts 171 through 180, with drivers trained under Part 172 Subpart H and California transport requirements under 17 CCR section 30373.
Diagnostic agents including Tc-99m, F-18 FDG and other F-18 tracers, I-123, In-111, Tl-201, Cu-64 and Ga-68, and therapy agents including Lu-177, Y-90, I-131 and Ac-225. Rb-82 and N-13 are not couriered as doses, because Rb-82 is eluted at the scanner and N-13 requires an on-site cyclotron, though we do move the generators.
By scheduling backwards from calibration time instead of forwards from pickup. F-18 loses roughly half its activity every 110 minutes, so we plan a PET route as a dedicated, direct run with the injection time as the fixed point. Tc-99m at six hours allows a multi-stop route, but we still plan against the kit labeled expiry, which is usually shorter than the decay window.
Since the company was founded in 2018. Class 7 radiopharmaceutical transport has been part of our operation from the start rather than an added service line, and it is run on dedicated assets with assigned personnel.
Packaging, labels and custody
Drivers train as hazmat employees under 49 CFR 172.704. That covers general awareness, function-specific, safety and security training. They retrain every three years, and we keep the records. They are background checked and 10-panel drug screened. Lab Carriers is registered with the California Department of Public Health Radiologic Health Branch.
The nuclear pharmacy or manufacturer. They hold the license, they perform the survey, and they determine the package category and transport index. Our responsibility begins at acceptance. Our driver checks the package count, label category, transport index and shipping paper against the manifest first.
The radiation level in mrem per hour measured one meter from the surface of the package, rounded up to the next tenth. It appears on the label and tells the carrier how much control the shipment requires, including how far the package must be kept from the occupied cab and how many packages can travel in one vehicle.
They are the three Class 7 label categories under 49 CFR 172.403, set by whichever is higher of the surface dose rate and the transport index. White-I is transport index zero and no more than 0.5 mrem per hour at the surface. Yellow-II runs up to a transport index of 1.0 and 50 mrem per hour. Yellow-III goes above that. Most unit-dose work is White-I or Yellow-II; a Yellow-III package places a placard on the vehicle and changes the driver requirements.
Yes. We track every shipment from pickup signature to delivery signature, with timestamps at each handoff. A named recipient in the department signs for it, not a dock or a front desk. Both the shipper and the receiving site can pull the documentation.
Service, dispatch and coverage
Yes. We handle therapy doses as dedicated runs tied to a confirmed infusion appointment. We also verify the receiving contact before dispatch. These doses belong to one patient, so nobody can redraw them the same day. So we never consolidate them with other work.
Yes, as a standing capability. Calls are answered by a dispatcher rather than an automated system. If a dose fails QC, an injection infiltrates, or a scanner delay pushes a patient outside the window, dispatch will assign a driver against the new injection time. If the decay calculation makes the window unachievable, we will state that during the call.
Yes. PET runs commonly dispatch before 6 a.m. and Saturday scan blocks happen every week. Rather than quote a blanket 24/7 claim, we will walk you through the specific on-call and dispatch structure for your route.
California is an NRC Agreement State, so the California Department of Public Health Radiologic Health Branch licenses and inspects radioactive material users in the state rather than the NRC. For transport, 17 CCR section 30373 applies. It incorporates the federal DOT and NRC rules and adds California-specific provisions.
All of California, with hubs in the Bay Area and at LAX/Inglewood. That covers the Bay Area, Sacramento and the Central Valley, the Central Coast, Greater Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire and San Diego County.
Lab Carriers Services and Coverage
Radiopharmaceutical delivery is a geography problem before it is anything else, because a PET dose can only travel as far as its own half-life allows. Furthermore, California dose supply is concentrated, with cyclotron and PET production capacity in the Bay Area, the Los Angeles basin, Sacramento and San Diego, and the imaging centers that depend on it are spread across the whole state.
In addition, Lab Carriers runs statewide, with hubs in the Bay Area and at LAX/Inglewood. That matters for nuclear medicine specifically: a Southern California PET route dispatched out of Inglewood reaches the LA basin, Orange County and the Inland Empire inside the F-18 window, and a Northern California route covers the Bay Area, Sacramento and the northern Central Valley on the same logic.
Lab Carriers connects every service to our statewide medical courier network. Explore our coverage and related services:
More Lab Carriers Services
Bay Area
Central Coast
Central Valley
Greater Los Angeles
Inland Empire
Orange County
Tell us your calibration time
Provide the pickup site, the receiving department and the time the dose must be in the hot lab, and we will confirm whether the window is achievable and what it costs. If the window cannot be met, we will say so before the job is accepted.
Call +1 (510) 916-1400 or request a quote.
