GE Healthcare has inked a supply deal with Chile-based mining firm SQM to help the company meet global demand for x-ray and CT imaging contrast media.
The agreement will see SQM increase supply of iodine raw material year-on-year to enable the production of 30 million more patient doses of iodinated contrast media annually by 2025, GE said. GE's new $30 million manufacturing line at its contrast media production facility in Cork, Ireland, also opened this week.
Significant growth in x-ray and CT procedures has increased global demand for iodinated contrast media, which are used to visualize organs, blood vessels, and tissues during imaging procedures, GE said.
The supply deal comes on the heels of contrast media production woes that GE experienced earlier this year with the shutdown of its manufacturing plant in Shanghai, China, due to a COVID-19 outbreak.
![Axial images from unenhanced calcium score cardiac CT (left) and curved planar reformation images from CT angiography (right) show that higher long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with greater coronary artery calcium and more obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Top row: Images in a 68-year-old male patient with higher 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (7.9 μg/m3 for particulate matter measuring ≤2.5 μm in diameter [PM2.5] and 17.4 parts per billion [ppb] for NO2) with extensive CAD (coronary artery calcium score [CACS] >1,000 and obstructive CAD [≥70% diameter stenosis]). Bottom row: Images in a 57-year-old female patient with lower 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (6.3 μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 4.6 ppb for NO2) with no CAD (CACS = 0 and no obstructive stenosis).](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/06/hanneman.r6SMLzkezo.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
