February 24, 2011 -- Much of nuclear medicine depends on a steady supply of an isotope called molybdenum-99—“Mo-99” for short. A byproduct of nuclear fission, Mo-99 is used to produce another radioactive substance, technetium-99m, which is employed in more than 16 million nuclear imaging procedures every year in the US alone. These include everything from sentinel node biopsies in cancer surgery to bone scans and cardiac stress tests.
Unfortunately, the supply of Mo-99 and other radioisotopes has been unreliable at best. All of the Mo-99 used in the US is imported, with the main source being the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor at Chalk River, Ontario. A shutdown for repairs in May 2009 contributed to a global radioisotopes shortage; while the reactor has been back in operation since August 2010, it is scheduled for closure by 2016.
“The shortage showcases a critical gap in the supply chain,” says Jim Katzaroff, chairman and CEO of Kennewick, WA-based Advanced Medical Isotope Corp (AMIC). “The US has no domestic reactor that can make the radioisotopes, so new production strategies are desperately needed. For some procedures, there’s simply no alternative, and without a reliable domestic supply of isotopes, nuclear medicine would halt, severely limiting doctors’ ability to diagnose and treat many diseases.”
Already, some clinicians have switched to using a radioactive variant of thallium, which went out of favor about 15 years because Mo-99/technetium-99m has better imaging characteristics. Additionally, physicians are finding it harder to get their hands on iodine-131, another radioisotope that is used to treat thyroid cancer, Graves’ disease and hyperthyroidism. There are alternatives for many procedures, including CT and PET scanning, using radioisotopes not made in nuclear reactors, but these have drawbacks ranging from increased cost and greater radiation burden to lower image quality.
In response to this ongoing crisis, AMIC is building strategies to bring radioisotope production back to the US. “We have a moral imperative to produce isotopes on our soil for our people,” Katzaroff says. Doing so, he notes, would save tens of millions of dollars for the healthcare market, which already spends about $120 billion per year on cancer. The company is developing a way to produce Mo-99 and other radioisotopes without needing a nuclear reactor, instead using a device the size of a commercial cyclotron.
I would love to arrange an interview with Mr. Katzaroff to discuss the shortage of Mo-99 and other medical isotopes, and how AMIC is making plans to alleviate the crisis.
Let me know what you think!
Laura Colontrelle The Investor Relations Group 11 Stone Street - 3rd Floor New York, NY 10004 T: 212.825.3210 F: 212.825.3229
lcolontrelle@investorrelationsgroup.com IRGnews.com, a first-in-class online destination for investors, the public, and media interested in small-cap public companies.
