MANSFIELD – Covidien Plc and the Institute of Atomic Energy in Poland have announced an agreement to augment Covidien’s production of the medical isotope Technetium 99m (Tc 99m).
The agreement between Covidien and the institute will increase Covidien’s supply of Molybdenum 99 (Mo 99), which is used in producing the Tc 99 isotope. Tc 99m is a medical isotope used in a number of medical diagnostic processes and studies, with more than 35 million nuclear medicine procedures performed worldwide each year, the company said.
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Until recently, approximately two-thirds of the world’s supply of medical isotopes has been provided by the High Flux Reactor (HFR) in Petten, Netherlands, and the National Research Universal reactor in Canada. The HFR reactor was recently shut down for six months of repair work, and the Canadian reactor has been shut down for similar maintenance since May 2009.
Covidien’s plan to tap the Polish institute’s Maria Research Reactor is expected to help stem the shortage created by the shutdown of the HFR and NRU reactors.
“This is an historic agreement. It is the first time in decades that a new reactor has been brought into the global supply chain for medical isotopes,” Timothy R. Wright, president of pharmaceuticals at Covidien, said in a statement. “We are excited that we will now be working together to provide more than a million patients around the globe with access to a critical medical isotope during this serious shortage.”
It is expected that the Tc 99 produced from the Maria Research Reactor’s Mo 99 will be commercially available in Europe soon. Covidien is waiting for approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Canada Health before it can make the isotope available to patients in North America.
