NorthStar to Build New Production Line of Medical Radioisotopes

NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes (Madison, WI, USA) will construct a new filling line that will quadruple the company’s capacity to dispense molybdenum-99 (Mo-99).

The new high-capacity medical radioisotope filling line will be installed at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR; Columbia, MO, USA) by Von Gahlen International (Zevenaar, The Netherlands). The system will include a high-capacity DPharm unit to fill source vessels quickly, along with companion nuclear radiation containment chambers. The vessels will then be shipped to customers for use with the RadioGenix isotope separation system.

In addition to significantly increasing dispensing capacity at MURR, the new filling line will also be able to prepare source vessels containing Mo-99 generated from natural or enriched molybdenum-98 (Mo-98) targets, which have higher concentrations of Mo-98 and produce approximately three times more Mo-99 than natural targets. Installation is scheduled to begin in November 2106, with full operability targeted for the first half of 2017.

Mo-99 is the parent isotope of technetium-99m, the most widely used radioisotope in medical diagnostic imaging. Because of its unstable nature, Mo-99 does not occur naturally, and is traditionally produced using highly enriched uranium (HEU) in aging nuclear reactors, creating safety and national security concerns and the risk of product shortages. NorthStar is investing more than USD three million in the development of new processes for producing Mo-99 without the use of HEU.

It is striving to become the first producer of Mo-99 in the United States after more than 25 years, while facing competition from SHINE Medical Technologies (SHINE; Monona, WI, USA), which is also developing an alternative production method involving bombarding a low enriched uranium (LEU) uranyl sulfate solution with fast neutrons at the linear accelerator at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL; Lemont, IL, USA).

Related Links:
NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes
University of Missouri Research Reactor
Von Gahlen International
SHINE Medical Technologies
Argonne National Laboratory