SHINE Medical Technologies a next-generation fusion technology company, and SHINE Europe announced today that the Dutch government has approved a substantial grant proposal to develop a plan to produce a variety of terbium isotopes for use in nuclear medicine.

Within this project, SHINE Europe, together with the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) and Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), aims to develop and realize all the technologies and facilities needed to secure the entire supply chain for terbium-based nuclear medicine. This will also involve increased cooperation with partners in the European Union. "Previous collaborations with UMCG and TU Delft have been very fruitful," said Harrie Buurlage, general manager of SHINE Europe. "We therefore view our collaboration within the project with great confidence."

Research shows that terbium isotopes are a potentially effective method for diagnosing and treating cancer and other diseases. But a lack of essential raw materials and complex processing technology are among the current barriers to terbium production. These obstacles can be solved by SHINE's innovative production methods. These enable SHINE to have a vertically integrated supply chain, from raw material production through cGMP product purification.

SHINE, a world leader in new high-tech ways to produce medicine, currently produces lutetium-177 in Janesville, Wisconsin (U.S.). It is building the world's largest fully specialized medical isotope production facility at its Janesville campus, which will add the capability to produce molybdenum-99, a diagnostic medicine used in millions of procedures to detect heart disease and cancer. The facility is expected to start up in 2023 and will be able to produce the suite of fission-based radioisotopes as well as key neutron-capture based isotopes. SHINE Europe is planning a similar production site in Veendam, the Netherlands, to come online in the next five years.

"The development of a new supply system for terbium-based drugs will be another major milestone in providing patients with access to promising new therapies to support their ongoing fight against cancer," said Harrie Buurlage, general manager of SHINE Europe. "We thank the Dutch government for their support in our terbium efforts and hope for similar support from the European Commission." The grant proposal is subject to final approval by the European Commission.

SHINE is a next-generation nuclear technology company deploying advanced fusion technologies to create a scalable path to fusion energy. Based in southern Wisconsin, headquartered in Janesville, and with a future site under development in Europe, SHINE deploys its safe, cost-effective and environmentally friendly technology in an incremental approach. SHINE systems are used for industrial imaging of components in aerospace, defense, transportation, energy and other sectors. SHINE's patented isotope production processes create carrier-free molybdenum-99 and lutetium-177 that are used in tens of thousands of daily procedures to diagnose and treat heart disease and cancer.