Lantheus Medical Imaging of North Billerica, MA, has signed a deal with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO) to receive molybdenum-99m (Mo-99) produced at ANSTO's Open Pool Australian Lightwater (OPAL) reactor.
The deal is designed to help alleviate some of the shortfall created by the loss of the National Research Universal reactor operated by Atomic Energy of Canada. The reactor is expected to be offline for at least three months due to a water leak, and the nuclear medicine community has been scrambling to find alternative sources of Mo-99, which is the precursor isotope to technetium-99m.
Under the terms of the deal between Lantheus and ANSTO, ANSTO will supply Lantheus with Mo-99 using a low-enriched uranium process, which is a new and safer option for Mo-99. Unlike highly enriched uranium, low-enriched uranium cannot be used in nuclear weapons, which reduces the risk of terrorism threats to low-enriched uranium reactors.
Lantheus signed a similar deal with NTP Radioisotopes of South Africa. The Australian agreement is the first with a supplier using the low-enriched uranium process, according to Lantheus.
Related Reading
PETNet signs supply deal with Lantheus, June 11, 2009
Lantheus completes Definity study enrollment, May 28, 2009
Lantheus signs Mo-99 supply deal, May 20, 2009
Moly crisis leads to price hike for Lantheus technetium generators, May 15, 2009
Lantheus buys Epix's MS-325 rights, April 7, 2009
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