NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes has signed an agreement with Ion Beam Applications (IBA) to acquire eight Rhodotron TT300 HE electron beam accelerators.

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Image: NorthStar agrees to buy eight Rhodotron electron beam accelerators from IBA. Photo: Courtesy of rawpixel from Pixabay.

NorthStar has issued purchase orders for two initial units and plans to order the remaining units in the coming years.

NorthStar president and CEO Stephen Merrick said: “Investing in accelerator technology is a key component of NorthStar’s multi-pronged approach to deliver domestic and non-uranium based production of the medical radioisotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) across multiple processing platforms. We plan to use these accelerators to expand production capacity, enhance production efficiencies and create manufacturing redundancies to further secure reliable, non-uranium based Mo-99 radioisotope supply for U.S. customers and patients.”

Merrick continued saying: “NorthStar successfully pioneered the first domestic production of Mo-99 in nearly 30 years, and with our RadioGenix Systems commercially available and increasingly providing U.S. customers with reliable supply of the important medical radioisotope technetium-99m (Tc-99m) for patients’ diagnostic tests, our growth continues in line with plan. We are nearing completion of a facility expansion to more than double Mo-99 Source Vessel capacity production, and additional fill lines at our Columbia, Mo. facilities will increase the number of Mo-99 Source Vessels that we are able to ship weekly – both projects pending FDA approval. Groundbreaking on the accelerator facility in Beloit, Wis. is planned for later this year.”

NorthStar’s RadioGenix System is a separation platform that is approved to process non-uranium/non-highly enriched uranium based molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) for producing technetium-99m (Tc-99m) an important medical radioisotope.

Before RadioGenix technology was available, the supply chain for Mo-99 in the US was subject to frequent and sometimes severe interruptions, negatively impacting patient healthcare. Approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last February, RadioGenix is claimed to be the first on-site, automated isotope separation system of its kind for use with non-uranium/non-highly enriched uranium based Mo-99.

The RadioGenix system is a technetium Tc-99m generator used for producing Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m Injection, USP. Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m Injection is a radioactive diagnostic agent and can be used in the preparation of FDA-approved diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals.

Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m Injection is used in adults for imaging salivary gland and nasolacrimal drainage system imaging (dacryoscintigraphy) and in adults and pediatric patients for thyroid imaging and vesicoureteral imaging (direct isotopic cystography) for detection of vesicoureteral reflux.