JANESVILLE, Wis., Oct. 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- SHINE Medical Technologies Inc. (SHINE), a Wisconsin-based company dedicated to being the world leader in the safe, clean, affordable production of medical isotopes, and Phoenix, LLC, manufacturer of the world's strongest compact neutron generators, announced today that Phoenix has delivered the first production accelerator to SHINE's Building One, the first building on the SHINE medical isotope production campus in Janesville, WI.
Known as the first production unit, this state-of-the-art accelerator system was designed and built by Phoenix specifically for the SHINE medical isotope project, which will produce radioisotopes used in medical imaging. Previous Phoenix prototype systems demonstrated the neutron output and up-time required for medical isotope production in the SHINE facility. The first production unit is the third-generation design for SHINE and is the first system designed for regular commercial use.
"This is a really special day for all of us, and is personally very exciting for me," said SHINE CEO, Greg Piefer. "This delivery represents the culmination of almost a decade of joint work between Phoenix and SHINE, moving from proof of concept, to proof of scale, and now to a commercial-ready unit that can produce thousands of doses of medicine per day when paired with the SHINE target. Our tests in Building One will prove the technology is ready for production and provide us important maintenance and operational data well in advance of starting up the actual plant."
"Phoenix's mission is to tackle humanity's greatest challenges with nuclear technology," said Ross Radel, Phoenix CEO. "We're incredibly excited to see all the hard work over the years result in this outcome. Through our partnership with SHINE, our neutron generators will support production of enough Mo-99 to provide millions of people a year with the critical imaging procedures they need."
The first production unit was delivered to SHINE's Building One on Monday, October 15th, 2018. After installation and commissioning, it will allow SHINE to gain operating experience, train employees, and develop maintenance procedures prior to construction of its commercial production facility. Construction of the SHINE medical isotope production facility is slated to begin in the spring of 2019. Once built, the production facility will contain eight independent isotope production units, each with its own Phoenix neutron generator. At full capacity, the SHINE facility will be able to supply over one third of global demand for Mo-99. Commercial production of Mo-99 will begin in 2021.
About Molybdenum-99
Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) is a radioisotope that decays into the diagnostic imaging agent technetium‑99m (Tc-99m). The workhorse of nuclear medicine, Tc-99m is used in more than 40 million medical imaging procedures each year, primarily in stress tests to diagnose heart disease and bone scans to stage cancer. SHINE was founded to deploy a safe, cost-effective and environmentally friendly technology to produce medical isotopes, including Mo‑99. Roughly 1% of all Mo-99 in the world decays every hour, meaning it must be continuously produced. Current production is limited to only a handful of government-owned nuclear research reactors, the majority of which are overseas.
About Phoenix, LLC
Transforming nuclear technology since 2005, Phoenix designs and manufactures the world's strongest neutron generators. Phoenix's cutting-edge technology has been used in the aerospace, defense, medical and energy sectors to improve manufacturing efficiency, safety and quality. They are the foremost experts on neutron imaging services and the first non-reactor facility to offer commercial neutron imaging services. For more information on the applications of neutron imaging visit http://phoenixwi.com.
About SHINE Medical Technologies, Inc.
Founded in 2010, SHINE is a development-stage company working toward becoming a manufacturer of radioisotopes for nuclear medicine. The SHINE system uses a patented, proprietary manufacturing process that offers major advantages over existing and proposed production technologies, as it does not require a nuclear reactor, uses less electricity, generates less waste and is compatible with the nation's existing supply chain for molybdenum-99. In 2014, SHINE announced the execution of molybdenum-99 supply agreements with GE Healthcare and Lantheus Medical Imaging. In 2015, with the help of Argonne National Laboratory, GE Healthcare demonstrated SHINE molybdenum-99 can act as a drop-in replacement for reactor-based moly-99. In 2016, SHINE received regulatory approval to construct its facility from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and signed a moly-99 supply agreement with HTA Co., Ltd., the largest Chinese distributor of radiopharmaceuticals. In 2017, SHINE built the first building on its Janesville campus: SHINE Building One. Learn more at http://shinemed.com.
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SOURCE Phoenix, LLC; SHINE Medical Technologies Inc.