A global shortage of a medical isotope used in diagnostic tests for heart disease and cancer has vacillated from bad to worse over the last couple of years. Output has dwindled as the two nuclear reactors supplying the bulk of radioactive material — one in Chalk River, Ontario (pictured at right) and the other in Petten, the Netherlands — have been closed for repairs or maintenance.
But now a new source — Poland — is appearing on the horizon. Covidien, a U.S. company that purifies isotope material, said this morning it has reached a deal with the operators of a reactor near Warsaw. Read the announcement for details.
The deal is far from a complete solution. The Polish plant can fill only a fraction of the demand and just getting the isotope from the former Soviet bloc country to the Netherlands for processing requires 20 permits from five countries, the New York Times notes.
The FDA also won’t given its blessing until it sees samples. But the NYT quotes an expert at the University of Iowa as saying the new supply channel could make the difference between being able to limp along and shutting down because of a lack of the isotope.
The Canadian and Dutch reactors normally supply two-thirds of the worlds supply of the isotope — molybdenum-99, which decays to technetium-99m. The material is used in tests that help determine such things as whether cancer has spread to lymph nodes.
Here’s more on the isotopes and their use. Covidien also has a Web site giving updates on the supply efforts.
Photo via Chalk River Labs