The University of Missouri (MU) holds intellectual property for a system than can generate clinically relevant quantities of radioisotopes (including Mo-99), the production of which normally requires a nuclear reactor. This can be done in a ‘sub-critical system’ with an infrastructure footprint similar to a commercial cyclotron facility.
The partnership between MU and Advanced Medical Isotope Corporation (AMIC) allows for a staged development of such a system to produce medical, research and industrial isotopes. MU currently holds intellectual property for a device that generates neutrons in a tank filled with heavy water and fissile uranium material.
Robert Schenter, chief science officer for AMIC, said: “This proposed device is a response to the limitations of the current model of production and delivery of radioisotopes that require neutrons to either create fission products or to irradiate stable targets.”