Embassy Events 2010
Poland's Institute of Atomic Energy (IEA) and Covidien to Produce Much Needed Medical Isotope
22 February 2010
Poland's Institute of Atomic Energy (IEA) and Covidien to Produce Much Needed Medical Isotope
On February 17, 2010, Janusz Jaroszewicz, Project Head for Isotopes of Poland's Institute of Atomic Energy, Steve Littlejohn, Vice President of U.S. healthcare provider Covidien, and U.S. Ambassador Lee Feinstein announced an agreement to cooperate in the production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). Mo-99 is an essential precursor component for nuclear diagnostic procedures around the world, including heart disease and cancer diagnosis, and studies of certain organs and function.
With the February 17 agreement, Covidien and the Institute will bring world-class Polish technical and scientific expertise into Covidien's global supply chain, relieving the global shortage of Mo-99 and ensuring that patients around the world have timely access to vital diagnostic tests. This is the first time in decades a new reactor has been brought into the global supply chain for medical isotopes, helping serve as many as one million patients worldwide in the first six months alone.
This agreement further diversifies their supply of Mo 99 to produce Tc 99m, which is a vital medical isotope used in 80 percent of all nuclear medicine diagnostic and functional studies of organs and anatomical systems. More than 35 million nuclear medicine procedures are performed worldwide each year, more than half of which are performed in the United States.