Abstract: Radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals increasingly contribute to human health in nuclear medicine. Herein, a brief overview of the development of radioisotope production and radiopharmaceuticals in the past seven decades at the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) was presented. For radioisotope production, a review was made with an emphasis on the development of some reactor-produced radioactive isotopes (⁹⁹Mo, ¹³¹I, ¹²⁵I, ⁶⁰Co, ¹⁷⁷Lu, etc.), cyclotron-produced isotopes (¹⁸F, ¹²³I, ²²⁵Ac, etc.) and radionuclide generators (⁹⁹Mo-⁹⁹Tc^m generator, etc.). For radiopharmaceuticals, the review covers imaging agents (including ⁹⁹Tc^m-, ¹³¹I-, ¹⁸F-labelled compounds and cold kits for ⁹⁹Tc^m radiolabelling), therapeutic radiotracer agents (containing ¹⁵³Sm-, ³²P-, ⁹⁰Y-, ¹⁷⁷Lu-, ²²⁵Ac-labelled agents), compounds for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), radioactive seed sources for brachytherapy, and radioimmunoassay kits. Meanwhile, prospects for radioisotope production and radiopharmaceuticals are provided, and CIAE is expected to play a more important role in this field in the future.