Medical Imaging Firm Offers $1 Million Investment
Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
1/16/2015
Perma-Fix Environmental Services’ medical isotope subsidiary, Perma-Fix Medical, entered into a strategic partnership and secured a $1 million investment from Digirad Corporation to help the subsidiary develop and commercialize its technetium-99m production technology, Perma-Fix announced this week. With Canada set to stop government spending in 2016 on the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor, one of the world’s largest suppliers of molybdenum-99 and technetium-99m, the medical isotope industry is expecting a shortage in the market in the coming years, opening a potentially lucrative opportunity to satisfy the market for the medical isotope used in millions of procedures annually. Under the terms of the agreement, Digirad, a nuclear imaging services business, will provide its expertise in the medical imaging business while entering into a definitive supply agreement at a preferred rate once production begins.
Under the terms of the $1 million investment, Digirad would obtain approximately 5.4% of the outstanding common shares of Perma-Fix Medical, which is publicly traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Digirad will also have the right to appoint one member to Perma-Fix Medical’s Supervisory Board, and a second appointee to either the Supervisory Board or the management team, Perma-Fix said. The partnership is still subject to approval from approval of Boards of Perma-Fix and Digirad, as well as Polish regulatory authorities.
Agreement ‘Further Validation’ of Technology
For Perma-Fix, the agreement represents further validation of the commercial viability of its technology. “This strategic partnership and investment from Digirad, when completed, is further validation of our technology and will help accelerate development and commercialization of our proprietary process to produce Tc-99m without the use of uranium,” Perma-Fix CEO Lou Centofanti said in a statement. “Digirad is an ideal partner as they bring both industry and technological expertise as one of the leading users of Tc-99m, and we look forward to working closely with Matt and the rest of the Digirad team.” Centofanti also said the partnership enabled Perma-Fix to close the previously-disclosed escrow account whereby Perma-Fix Medical was able to deliver certain shares of its previously sold stock and received out of escrow approximately $1,330,000. He also added, “Looking ahead, we are focused on establishing additional strategic partners involved in the supply chain, and look forward to moving ahead with regulatory approval in the near future.”
Digirad: Perma-Fix Technology Could Become Standard
Digirad, for its part, sees Perma-Fix’s technology as a solution to the world’s Tc-99m supply disruption issues. “The current process for producing Tc-99m is costly and lacks a worldwide infrastructure for future development and growth, and can experience supply disruptions from time to time,” Digirad President and CEO Matt Molchan said in a statement. “We believe the Perma-Fix Medical technology solution can develop into the standard of production of Tc-99m for many years into the future and eliminate the past supply disruption issues. In addition to the economic benefits, there are numerous environmental, political and social benefits to Perma-Fix’s new process and we look forward to helping advance this technology through commercialization.”
