Extra shipments of a key radiopharmaceutical (technetium 99-m) used to diagnose and treat people with diseases such as cancer, were received by ANSTO at the weekend with another due tomorrow. Supply of the product ceased over a week ago following a ruptured pipe in a production area.
The shipments will significantly improve supply to patients waiting for nuclear medicine procedures, with clinics and hospitals around the country estimated to receive around 60 per cent of their supply this week. Further Imports due on 24 June should enable ANSTO to meet 100 per cent demand with customers scheduled to receive product from 26 June.
ANSTO will import the product until this is resolved. It should be noted that the rupture did not occur in the reactor but in a building away from the reactor where processing takes place. The incident is completely unrelated to reactor operations.
ANSTO’s production of another radiopharmaceutical, thallium, which can be used instead of technetium-99m in some heart scans, is being increased to help address the current supply shortage.
ANSTO is keeping all customers (including doctors, medical centres and hospitals) fully informed of the situation, so that clinic schedules can be adapted to meet priority community needs.
ANSTO regrets the disruption that this situation has caused and will continue to provide updates about the situation to ensure the public and clients are kept informed.
Technetium-99m is produced when the radioactivity in molybdenum-99, which is produced in research reactors such as ANSTO’s HIFAR reactor, decays. ANSTO supplies molybdenum-99 to doctors via its Gentech Generators, which allows medicos to ‘milk’ the technetium when it’s needed. Most generators last about one week.
Published: 19/06/2006