Tags: Drug.
Radium-223 (Ra-223) is an isotope of radium with an 11.4-day half-life in contrast to the common isotope radium-226 discovered by the Curies which has a 1601-year half-life. The principal use of radium-223 as a radiopharmaceutical to treat metastatic cancers in bone takes advantage of its chemical similarity to calcium and the short range of the alpha radiation it emits.