Research community tagged to explore alternative methods to make medical isotopes

The health, natural sciences and engineering research communities are being called upon to develop near-term solutions to address Canada's medical isotope crisis. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) have launched a $6-million call for proposals (CFP) to develop non-nuclear methods for producing Technetium-99m, as well as supporting its production and clinical testing.

The CFP was conceived and developed in less than two weeks in response to government's need to ensure that the current crisis in isotope production is not repeated in the future. Funding was found from within existing resources but the hope is that a successful competition will result in additional money being allocated. Successful proposals will have a two-year time frame to produce clinically validated compounds using technologies already in existence.

It's estimated that up to 12 research groups across Canada may response to the CIHR-NSERC call for proposals and that two or three radio pharmaceuticals can be developed in the allocated time.

"We hope to secure additional funding to launch a much broader and bigger initiative," says Dr Pierre Bilodeau, director of the bio-industries division within NSERC's Research Partnerships Program. "We are very happy with this initiative as it will demonstrate to government that we are working together with CIHR and willing to invest our dollars in opportunities with health applications … The granting councils are trying to be flexible and use the mechanisms we have to grant funding for very quick calls for proposals in specific initiatives."

While CIHR is the lead agency in the initiative, both councils are contributing $3 million and NSERC anticipates considerable involvement due to the extensive use of chemistry and engineering in potential methods for isotope production.

"If we are to find non-nuclear alternatives for this, the NSE (natural sciences and engineering) can be directly involved," says Bilodeau. "The application is health but the technology comes out of NSE research."

CIHR and NSERC are already collaborating on a separate joint research initiative for research into alternative ways to produce medical isotopes, with a workshop planned for October in Toronto. That workshop will proceed with an even more ambitious agenda for providing the medium- and long-term research necessary to underpin the future needs of nuclear medicine.

The latest medical isotope crisis was sparked by yet another unscheduled shut-down of the 52-year-old National Research Universal (NRU) reactor at Chalk River, owned and operated by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL). The prospect of losing Canada's main supply of medical isotopes prompted the federal government to launch several initiatives, including a $22-million infusion into the cyclotron at McMaster Univ to boost isotope production and the appointment of Dr Alexander (Sandy) McEwan as special advisor of medical isotopes for the duration of the current crisis.

McEwan says the government's strategy of addressing the problem from near-, medium- and long-term perspectives won't solve the crisis but may ensure that such a situation doesn't arise in the future.

"The $6 million for CIHR has a two-year time frame while the October workshop will address the medium- to long-term on issues around alternative medical imaging. There's no doubt that the use of radio-pharmaceuticals and other options will change the paradigm that medical imaging work in," says McEwan, chair of the department of oncology at the Univ of Alberta and a professor of radiology and diagnostic imaging. "The workshop is a big opportunity for the research community to address the needs for translational research and validate the idea of using images as biomarkers.

While the research community sorts through the best options for future isotope production, debate continues to rage on solutions for the present crisis. A meeting last week of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources heard that McMaster could produce more than Canada's needs within 18 months. The plan would require $30 million to pay for additional fuel and upgrades to transform a multi-purpose research reactor into a high-volume isotope generator.

The NRCan committee also heard from Linda Keen, former president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Keen said it is possible to put AECL's two MAPLE reactors into commission for isotope production. The MAPLE reactors were built for MDS Nordion and mothballed earlier this year due to seemingly intractable safety compliance problems. MDS has launched a $1.6-billion lawsuit against AECL and the federal government.

Meantime, prime minister Stephen Harper has announced that the government will exit the medical isotope business by 2016, allowing for one more five-year extension to the NRU's operating licence.

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