U.S. needs own supply of medical isotopes-experts

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A global shortage of medical isotopes used in scores of medical imaging tests has forced some doctors to delay patient care or shift to more costly medical tests, experts told U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday.

A medical isotope is a very small quantity of radioactive material used to perform nuclear medicine imaging tests.

Experts said the current global shortage sparked by the unplanned shutdown in May of a nuclear reactor in Canada has made clear the need for a domestic supply of medical isotopes.

"As a result of this crisis, important diagnostic procedures are being postponed or canceled," Michael Duffy, a vice president at privately held Lantheus Medical Imaging of Massachusetts, which processes isotopes for medical use, said in a telephone interview.

Lantheus got most of its medical isotopes from the Canadian reactor, which made a third of the world's medical isotope supply. It is one of six aging reactors worldwide -- none located in the United States -- to produce molybdenum-99 or Mo-99, the most commonly used medical isotope.

The rapidly decaying substance has a shelf life of just 67 hours, making it impossible to stockpile. Technetium-99m, a radioactive byproduct of Mo-99, is used in over 14 million nuclear medicine procedures in the United States each year.

Although Lantheus has established supply deals to get isotopes from reactors in other countries, Duffy said the company is still "not fully able to meet our weekly demand."

Duffy gave expert testimony at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment. He was speaking in support of the American Medical Isotopes Production Act of 2009, a bill sponsored by Massachusetts Representative Edward Markey, who chairs the subcommittee, and Michigan Representative Fred Upton.

The bill would provide the secretary of energy with $163 million to promote the production of molybdenum-99 in the United States. It would also require that medical isotopes produced in the United States be made from low-enriched uranium, and any imported isotopes be made that way as well.

Currently, most are made using highly enriched uranium, the same material that can be used to produce nuclear weapons.

Duffy said medical imaging procedures that rely on medical isotopes improve patient care and can reduce costs.

"We would very much like to be able to have a long-term stable supply of molybdenum for the medical community," he said.

The medical isotope shortage has taken a toll on Toronto-based MDS Inc, which distributes medical isotopes worldwide from the Canadian reactor, and Covidien, another major U.S. supplier.

Both Lantheus and Covidien process medical isotopes from reactors into lead-lined containers called generators.

Nuclear pharmacies use these to mix the isotopes with different solutions that are injected into patients, where they give off energy that is read by special cameras to test for heart disease or see if cancer has spread.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)