Bruce Power says a new system at its Tiverton site has successfully produced a medical isotope.
The nuclear energy company says it achieved the milestone of producing lutetium-177, a short-lived medical isotope, in a new isotope production system recently installed in Bruce Power’s Unit 7 reactor during a planned maintenance outage.
Lutetium-177 is used in precision oncology for targeted therapy of a growing number of cancers, and are designed to precisely target malignant cells while sparing surrounding health tissues.
The medical isotope production is an international collaboration between Bruce Power, Isogen (a Kinectrics and Framatome company), and ITM Isotope Technologies Munich SE.
“Bruce Power and our partners at Isogen, ITM, and Saugeen Ojibway Nation are thrilled to have reached this exciting milestone, bringing our partnership project to its final phase as we complete commissioning and approach commercial operations,” says Bruce Power’s Chief Development Officer and Executive Vice President Operational Services James Scongack in a release. “Today’s announcement is the culmination of years of hard work by hundreds of dedicated people and we are proud to demonstrate the power of using Bruce Power’s CANDU reactors to provide large-scale, reliable production of critical medical isotopes to use in the fight against cancer.”
CEO of Kinectrics David Harris: “Following commissioning of the (isotope production system), physicians and their patients worldwide will have access to a new, dependable supply of lutetium-177 for their cancer treatments. Moreover, through our partner ITM, pharmaceutical developers can rely on a large-scale supply of lutetium-177 for their clinical trials and commercial products.”
Bruce Power will market the new isotope supply in an historic collaboration partnership with Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON). The partnership project with SON, named Gamzook’aamin Aakoziwin, includes an equity stake for SON and a revenue-sharing program that provides a direct benefit to the community.
“Today’s announcement is a big win for our Gamzook’aamin Aakoziwin project, which is on track to meet the increasing demand from doctors and cancer patients around the world for medical isotopes,” says Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation Chief Veronica Smith. “We all know somebody who has been affected by cancer, and Saugeen Ojibway Nation is proud of the part we have played, and will continue to play, in this project to help those who need treatment from these innovative medicines.”
“As researchers look for new ways to fight cancer, lutetium-177 has been turned to as a way to treat patients in a non-invasive way,” adds Saugeen First Nation Chief Lester Anoquot. “This project is coming online when demand for treatments is increasing daily, and it will provide a much-needed source of these isotopes for patients close to home, in our communities, and around the world.”
ITM will receive exclusive access to the irradiation service provided by the isotope production system for the production of lutetium-177, Bruce Power says.
Bruce Power says in a statement with this milestone now achieved, commissioning activities will be completed this summer and will be followed by commercial operations, pending final regulatory review and approval by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).