Medical isotope developer ARTMS of British Columbia, Canada, announced that its cyclotron-produced technetium-99m (Tc-99m) radioisotope is being shipped commercially following approval on November 26 for clinical use by Health Canada.
The application for approval by Health Canada was supported by a joint filing from ARTMS, BC Cancer, the TRIUMF particle accelerator center in Canada, Lawson Health Research, and the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization.
In a statement about the approval, ARTMS said that its cyclotron-based technology provides a badly needed alternative source to Tc-99m than generators produced by a small number of nuclear reactors globally. This helps prevent shortages when operations at generators are disrupted, ARTMS said.
