[cdn-nucl-l] MDS Nordion - $20 Million to Build New Commercial Cyclotron

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@aecl.ca>]

MDS Nordion - $20 Million to Build New Commercial Cyclotron
  
TORONTO, June 24 /PRNewswire/ - New Facility Essential to 
Meet Growing Market Demand for Medical Isotopes Toronto, 
Ontario, Canada - MDS Nordion, the world leader in the production 
of medical radioisotopes, announced that it is investing $20 million 
to build a new commercial cyclotron in Vancouver, British 
Columbia. The addition of a fourth commercial cyclotron secures 
MDS Nordion's capability to meet increasing demand for diagnostic 
and therapeutic radioisotopes used daily around the world. 

The new cyclotron, which will double MDS Nordion's current 
production capacity at the Vancouver site, will be ready for 
production in January 2003. This significant increase reinforces 
MDS Nordion's ability to serve radioisotope users including 
radiopharmaceutical producers, hospitals and clinics worldwide. 

"This essential investment demonstrates our ongoing commitment 
to nuclear medicine," said Iain Trevena, Senior Vice-President, 
Nuclear Medicine at MDS Nordion. "Our new cyclotron is critical to 
secure ongoing and reliable worldwide supply for vital medical 
isotopes." 

In particular, MDS Nordion's cyclotron will help meet growing 
demand for the radioisotopes iodine-123 and palladium-103. MDS 
Nordion is the largest commercial producer of iodine-123 in North 
America and a major supplier to independent researchers. MDS 
Nordion is also the leading commercial supplier of palladium-103 to 
manufacturers of prostate seed implants. 

Iodine-123 is primarily used in the diagnosis of thyroid conditions 
such as cancer and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's 
and Parkinson's disease. Palladium-103 is used in treatment of 
prostate cancer, the most common form of cancer in men, affecting 
over 200,000 men in Canada and the United States each year. 

"The medical community relies on MDS Nordion's experience in 
producing radioisotopes for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of 
patients with cancer, and also cardiac and other disease," said Dr. 
Sandy McEwan, Senior Specialist, Nuclear Medicine, Department 
of Oncologic Imaging at the Cross Cancer Institute, a leading 
Canadian institution for cancer therapy and research. "The 
increased supply of iodine-123 and other necessary radioisotopes 
will improve the care we can give to our patients." 

MDS Nordion supplies over two-thirds of the world's reactor-
produced isotopes and a wide variety of cyclotron-produced 
isotopes used in nuclear medicine procedures. It is estimated that 
nearly 20 million nuclear medicine procedures are conducted 
worldwide each year. 

MDS Nordion currently operates two commercial cyclotrons, also 
known as particle accelerators, at the TRIUMF site located on the 
University of British Columbia campus, and a third in Fleurus, 
Belgium. TRIUMF is Canada's centre of excellence for subatomic 
physics research. 
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