by
Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor | January 05, 2011
Lantheus Medical Imaging said Wednesday it extended its contract with medical isotope supplier Nordion through 2013.
Originally, the deal to supply N. Billerica, Mass.-based Lantheus with molybdenum-99 was set to expire at the end of July.
Lantheus CEO and president Don Kiepert said the arrangement with Ottawa-based Nordion follows the company's policy of diversifying sourcing of Mo-99, which is only produced by a handful of reactors around the world. Last year, the shutdown of two aging reactors in the Netherlands and Canada for repairs led to global shortages of the isotope.
Mo-99 is the parent isotope of technetium-99m, widely used in nuclear medicine scans of the heart. Lantheus sells generators that milk Mo-99 into its daughter isotope.
