Positron and Ithemba LABS In Radioisotope Agreement
Positron Corporation (OTCBB:POSC) announces it has entered into a multi-year radioisotope supply agreement with iThemba LABS of Cape Town, South Africa.
The supply agreement contracts the procurement of raw material, strontium-82 (Sr-82) from iThemba LABS for further production of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) at Positron’s radioisotope production facility in Lubbock, TX.
In September 2013, Positron will receive relevant volumes of strontium-82 for qualification and will commence with commercial availability beginning in February 2014. This additional supply will enhance the industry’s strontium-82 supply and increase the availability of radiopharmaceuticals to the end user.
Positron intends to make this Sr-82 API supply available to all rubidium-82 generator producers in the marketplace.
The iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator-Based Sciences (LABS) is a group of multi- disciplinary research laboratories administered by the National Research Foundation of South Africa. The iThemba LABS facility provides basic and applied research using particle beams, particle radiotherapy for the treatment of cancer and the supply of accelerator-produced radioactive isotopes for nuclear medicine and research.
The Radionuclide Production Department has been producing radiopharmaceuticals and radionuclides for the past 23 years, some of them include 67 Ga-citrate, 123 I-products, 18 F-FDG, 68 Ge/ 68 Ga generators, 22 Na UHV positron sources and 82 Sr (irradiated Rb or RbCl targets). iThemba LABS is the largest facility of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and one of six facilities in the world that can produce Sr-82 with a proton accelerator.
“Over the past 15 years, iThemba LABS has played an integral role in supplying a significant portion of the global Sr-82 supply,” states Jason Kitten, Executive Director of Radioisotopes for Positron.
“During my tenure, with the U.S. Department of Energy at Los Alamos National Laboratory, I came to recognize iThemba LABS as a global leader and am pleased to continue our relationship. This agreement is a true testament to our mutual commitment to cardiac PET and enhancing the reliability of this vital lifeline to the industry. This collaboration further advances and strengthens the progression of a successful technology transfer of the Sr-82 lifecycle, from the U.S. DOE to the private sector. We look forward to a mutually beneficial partnership, whereby iThemba LABS can assist in expanding the cardiac PET market in the U.S. through Sr-82 supply and Positron will assist in bringing the cardiac PET modality to the African continent with iThemba LABS leading the effort.”
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Author: Farai Diza from Diza WordSmith . Originally distributed by MyPR.co.za.
