Ontario invests 18M Canadian dollars to expand medical isotope production

The Ontario government said it will invest 18 million Canadian dollars ($13 million U.S.) to increase the production of medical isotopes at the McMaster Nuclear Reactor on McMaster University’s campus in Hamilton.

This investment will expand operations to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, create 16 new jobs in Hamilton, and produce custom medical isotopes for up to 84,000 treatments each year, the government said, in a news release.

The McMaster Nuclear Reactor is Canada’s largest nuclear research facility and produces two key types of medical isotopes:

• Holmium-166, which is used for treating liver cancer by delivering radiation directly to tumors and minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue during treatments

• Iodine-125, which is used in imaging and radiation therapy to treat prostate cancer, as well as tumors in the eye and brain

In July, the Ontario government launched a plan to double the number of medical isotopes produced in the province over the next four years, the release noted.