[1][2] It is injected into a vein and distributed throughout the body, where it is preferentially absorbed in areas where cancer has invaded the bone.

The radioisotope 153Sm, with a half-life of 46.3 hours, decays by emitting beta particles (electrons), which kill the nearby cells.

Pain begins to improve in the first week for most people and the effects can last several months.

Side effects[3] include the following: Samarium lexidronam is supplied as a frozen solution for intravenous use with an activity of 50±5 mCi/mL[4] and a maximum beta energy of 0.808 MeV.

[5] Due to the short half-life of the radioisotope, the drug expires 56 hours after the noted calibration time.