Statement Attributable to:
Frank Scholz, Ph.D., President and COO, NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes
NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, located in Beloit, Wisconsin, recognizes the urgent medical need for technetium-99m (Tc-99m) to ensure patients have access to critical diagnostic imaging tests. Tc-99m is generated from molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) and used in approximately 40,000 patient studies per day in the United States. The overseas Mo-99 supply chain has historically been fragile and remains so today. Currently, several foreign reactors that produce Mo-99 are offline. As a result, Nuclear Medicine Europe has reported a projected shortage of Mo-99 and Tc-99m through and beyond the third week in November. This significant shortage underscores the continued need for domestic, reliable, non-uranium based Mo-99 supply for the United States.
NorthStar is the only commercial U.S. producer of Mo-99, having provided reliable Mo-99/Tc-99m supply to the nation for over four years. We are proud to be the first and only domestic company to achieve commercial Mo-99 production.
During this uncertain time, NorthStar customers that have the RadioGenix® System (technetium Tc 99m generator) continue to access domestically sourced Mo-99 without interruption. Our production technology provides an environmentally preferable solution for Mo-99 supply because it is non-uranium based and does not create the long-lived radioactive waste streams associated with enriched uranium-based production methods.
NorthStar is working aggressively to ensure sustainable domestic Mo-99 supply through establishing dual production and processing pathways using our electron accelerator technology on our Beloit, Wisconsin campus. We are executing on our plans to ramp-up production capacity to better serve radiopharmacies and healthcare providers.
NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes is committed to providing the United States with domestic, reliable and environmentally preferable radioisotope supply solutions to meet the needs of patients and to advance clinical research.
NorthStar also wishes to recognize the work that our partners at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR®) have done to help ensure that Mo-99/Tc-99m is available for radiopharmacies, healthcare providers, and, most importantly, patients.
About NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, LLC (NorthStar)
NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes is a commercial-stage nuclear medicine company that manufactures and distributes diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals. The Company’s proprietary state-of-the art technology and proven management team have propelled it to the forefront of U.S. medical radioisotope production as the sole domestic producer of the diagnostic imaging radioisotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). Mo-99 is used to generate technetium-99m (Tc-99m), the standard of care in diagnostic imaging to assess the extent and severity of heart disease and cancer. NorthStar’s unique Mo-99 production process is non-uranium based and environmentally friendly. NorthStar is expanding its industry-leading position in the emerging area of therapeutic radioisotopes, which are used in targeted radiopharmaceutical therapy to treat cancer, respiratory and other diseases. Using first-in-kind and environmentally-sound electron accelerator technology, NorthStar is poised to be the first commercial-scale producer of therapeutic radioisotopes actinium-225 (Ac-225) and copper-67 (Cu-67).
