MDS Nordion Urges Government of Canada to Complete MAPLE Project to Address Current Medical Isotope Supply Shortage
01 Giugno 2009 - 2:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
OTTAWA, June 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MDS Nordion, a leading
provider of medical isotopes and radiopharmaceuticals, today urged
the Government of Canada and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL)
to consult with international experts and obtain their assistance
toward activating the MAPLE project to address the current shortage
of medical isotopes created by the shutdown of the National
Research Universal (NRU) reactor at Chalk River, Ontario - and to
avoid similar occurrences in the future. Given that there are no
domestic or international sources of supply that can fully mitigate
this shortage, which has caused and will continue to cause
unavoidable and serious disruptions to patient care, MDS Nordion
has requested that the government direct AECL to honour its
long-standing commitment to replace the NRU by bringing the MAPLE
facilities into service. These facilities would enable Canada to
maintain its leadership position in the innovative and increasingly
important field of nuclear medicine. "The current NRU shutdown -
and the shutdown of November 2007 - illustrates the fragility and
unpredictability of the global medical-isotope supply system, and
highlights the requirement for new research reactor capacity to
deliver a reliable long-term supply of medical isotopes," said
Steve West, President of MDS Nordion. "The solution to the global
medical isotope crisis is in Canada. The infrastructure is in
place, and with the assistance of an international consortium of
nuclear experts, the MAPLE facilities could be producing medical
isotopes to the benefit of patients worldwide." At more than 50
years of age, the NRU, the largest producer of medical isotopes in
the world, produces 30%-40% of the world's medical isotopes, and
approximately 50% of those used in North America. These isotopes
are then processed by MDS Nordion at its state-of-the-art,
300,000-square-foot facility in Ottawa. Isotopes produced in Canada
are used in approximately 50,000 procedures each day worldwide,
including about 5,000 in Canada. On May 25, 2009, in an interview
with Canwest News Service on the status of the supply of medical
isotopes, Dr. Christopher O'Brien, President of the Ontario
Association of Nuclear Medicine and Director of Nuclear Medicine at
Brantford General Hospital, said "if Chalk River does not come back
up on line, does not restart, North America will be faced with a
significant and chronic shortage of medical isotopes. There just
aren't enough reactors out there that can take the place of Chalk
River." MAPLE - The Best Solution for Medical Isotope Supply MDS
Nordion long recognized the serious nature of the aging global
reactor infrastructure, and the need to provide a long-term
reliable supply of medical isotopes. To this end, in 1996, MDS
contracted with AECL to construct and deliver two isotope
production reactors and a processing facility dedicated solely to
the production of medical isotopes to replace the NRU reactor, a
collaboration that became known as the MAPLE project. The Project
included two reactors - MAPLE 1 and MAPLE 2 - to provide a steady
and redundant supply of isotopes when one of the reactors would go
offline for routine maintenance. Originally slated to be fully
operational in 2000, AECL agreed to build the MAPLE project for
$145 million - to be fully paid by MDS Nordion. On May 16, 2008,
the Government of Canada and AECL unilaterally announced that the
MAPLE project would be discontinued without disclosing a long-term
plan for the supply of medical isotopes beyond an intent to extend
the license of the NRU to 2016. On July 9, 2008, MDS, which by this
time had invested approximately $350 million in the MAPLE project,
commenced arbitration against AECL and filed a $1.6 billion court
claim against AECL and the Government of Canada to compel them to
return to work, and fulfil their contractual obligation to bring
the MAPLE facilities into service. On January 29, 2009, Dr. Kevin
Crowley, Study Director of the National Academy of Science, stated
in his presentation to the Nuclear Energy Association that "AECL's
May 2008 decision to discontinue work on the MAPLE reactors is a
blow to worldwide supply reliability." MDS's primary objective
through the legal proceedings is to have AECL honour its
long-standing commitment to replace the NRU by bringing the MAPLE
facilities into service, and provide a 40-year supply of medical
isotopes. Expert Opinion on MAPLE In its January 2009 report,
Medical Isotope Production without Highly Enriched Uranium, The
National Academy of Science Committee states that "AECL could
probably contract with another organization to fix the MAPLE
reactors...if it does not have the necessary in-house technical
expertise or resources to do the work itself." In a Viewpoint
article that appeared in the October 2, 2008 edition of Nuclear
Engineering International, Dr. Harold Smith, ex-Manager, MAPLE
Nuclear Commissioning, HIZ and Associates Inc., stated that the
"MAPLE reactor is probably the safest reactor design in existence
since it actually has three shutdown systems... The MAPLE reactor
operated like a dream, and was fully capable of meeting all
objectives." Other Longer-Term Supply Alternatives In addition to
MAPLE, MDS Nordion will continue to examine other supply
alternatives. On April 28, 2009, MDS Nordion announced an agreement
with TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear
physics, to study the feasibility of producing a viable and
reliable supply of photo fission-based molybdenum-99. Companies and
organizations from around the world, including MDS Nordion, are
working individually and collectively to mitigate the impact to
patients that the immediate global shortage of medical isotopes has
created. More Information Additional background about MDS Nordion,
the MAPLE project and medical isotope supply can be found on MDS
Inc.'s Website at
http://www.mdsinc.com/for_media/electronic_media_kit.asp#nordion
About MDS Nordion MDS Nordion, a business unit of MDS Inc., is a
global leader in providing medical isotopes for molecular and
diagnostic imaging, radiotherapeutics and sterilization
technologies for medical products that benefit the lives of
millions of people in more than 50 countries around the world. MDS
Nordion products and services are used on a daily basis by
pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, medical-device
manufacturers, hospitals, clinics and research laboratories. Find
out more at http://www.mdsnordion.com/ About MDS MDS Inc. (TSX:
MDS; NYSE: MDZ) is a global life sciences company that provides
market-leading products and services that our customers need for
the development of drugs, and the diagnosis and treatment of
disease. We are a leading global provider of pharmaceutical
contract research, medical isotopes for molecular imaging,
radiotherapeutics, and analytical instruments. MDS has more than
5,000 highly skilled people in 29 countries. Find out more at
http://www.mdsinc.com/ or by calling 1-888-MDS-7222, 24 hours a
day. Forward-Looking Statements This document contains
forward-looking statements. Some forward-looking statements may be
identified by words like "expects", "anticipates", "plans",
"intends", "indicates", "targeted" or similar expressions. The
statements are not a guarantee of future impact or performance and
are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties. The actual
impact to the Company of the NRU shutdown could differ materially
from that currently anticipated due to a number of factors,
including, the actual timing of a return to full production and
other risk factors identified in other documents filed by the
Company with Canadian and U.S. securities regulatory authorities
from time to time. DATASOURCE: MDS Nordion CONTACT: MEDIA: Tamra
Benjamin, (613) 592-3400, ext. 1022, ; INVESTORS: Kim Lee, (416)
213-4721,
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