At Niowave, a breakthrough in medical isotope production

LANSING – Niowave Inc. has reached a technical breakthrough on its way to competing in the $300 million market for medical isotopes.

In September, the company created molybdenum 99 by fissioning uranium using a superconducting electron linear accelerator, said Jerry Hollister, Niowave’s chief operating officer.

“Production of molybdenum 99 is a several-hundred-million-dollar-a-year industry, and it's all outside of the U.S.,” Hollister said. “It’s an industry in which we can be the center across the world for isotopes.”

Molybdenum 99 decays into technetium 99m, a radioactive tracer used in more than two-thirds of nuclear medicine procedures. It is used to diagnose heart disease, trace the spread of cancer and image the functioning of the brain, spleen and liver.

“This shows that we have the technology and the capabilities to do this type of work right here in Lansing,” said Steve WIllobee, chief operating officer of the Lansing Economic Area Partnership. “This is something we’ve been eagerly waiting for and it’s a key in becoming the Accelerating Capital.”

The U.S. uses 50 percent of the world’s molybdenum 99, but does not have a domestic supply. It imports it mainly from Canada and Europe, where it is produced in decades-old nuclear reactors that are prone to outages. Canada’s Chalk River Laboratories produces one fifth of the world’s supply and will go offline next year, a catalyst for Niowave’s entry into the lucrative industry.

Molybdenum 99 is typically produced by irradiating highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium. However, concerned about the dangers of shipping weapons-grade uranium to reactors around the world, Congress passed the American Medical Isotopes Production Act of 2012 in an attempt to establish a domestic supply of the isotope without using weapons grade uranium.

“Our recent success is a step toward reaching both of those goals,” Hollister said.

Niowave’s goal is to eventually supply most of the country with technetium 99m from its $79 million isotope production facility located on Port Lansing Road near Capital Region International Airport.

Hollister said the company will soon apply to amend its license with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to increase its production of the isotope and hopes to be mass producing the isotope in two years.

Niowave has some competition in domestic market from NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes and SHINE Medical Technologies. Madison, Wisconsin-based NorthStar produced a test supply of molybdenum 99 using the University of Missouri Research Reactor in May. SHINE is seeking approval from the NRC to build its isotope production facility.

The University of British Columbia and TRIUMF, Canada’s national particle physics lab, have found a way to produce technetium 99m without uranium by using a cyclotron. The cyclotron is roughly the size of an SUV and shoots a beam of energy at molybdenum 99 to create technetium 99m. The process, envisioned as the basis for a decentralized medical isotope production system, was demonstrated to the public in December. .

Niowave was founded in 2005 and employs roughly 70 people at its research facility at 1012 N. Walnut St. and plans to add 90 more employees once production of the isotope increases.

Contact Alexander Alusheff at (517) 388-5973 or aalusheff@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexalusheff.

Niowave target of labor investigation

The U.S. Department of Labor is investigating Niowave over a wage and hour complaint.

The specifics of the investigation won’t be released until it is completed by the Wage and Hour Division, said Rhonda Burke, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Labor.

Jerry Hollister, Niowave’s chief operating officer, declined to comment on the investigation.