NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes said Wednesday it is upgrading its production operations at the University of Missouri Research Reactor, adding a new high-capacity filling line the company says will ultimately quadruple its production capacity for the medical radioisotope molybendum-99.
Moly-99 is a medical isotope used in imaging procedures for cancer, heart disease, and bone and kidney disease. The Western Hemisphere will be without a moly-99 supplier starting in March 2018, when Canada expects to shut down its National Research Universal reactor.
NorthStar has partnered with Von Gahlen International to design and install the system, which Wednesday’s announcement says will include “a high-capacity DPharm unit to fill source vessels quickly, along with companion nuclear radiation containment chambers, or ‘hot cells.’” NorthStar is investing more than $3 million in new development processes for moly-99. Production is expected to begin in the first half of 2017.
“This increased capacity will enable us to meet the anticipated demand for our non-HEU Mo-99 and our RadioGeni isotope separation system,” NorthStar Chairman, President, and CEO George Messina said in a statement. “Our recent progress toward commercialization of our production processes, and the encouraging feedback we’ve received from the marketplace, justify this investment. We are confident it will pay dividends for years to come.”
SHINE Medical Technologies, Northwest Medical Isotopes, and Coqui RadioPharmaceuticals Corp. are also vying to be among the first American commercial producer of moly-99 in more than 25 years. Northwest aims to start production in 2018, SHINE in 2019, and Coqui in 2020-21.
