Burnaby, Canada, December 22, 2020 – ARTMS Inc. (ARTMS) is excited to announce Health Canada’s marketing approval of cyclotron produced technetium-99m (^99mTc) for clinical use.  For the Health Canada submission, ARTMS provided technical expertise and the solid targets required for production to a Canadian consortium consisting of BC Cancer, TRIUMF, Lawson Health Research and the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization.  The process was approved by Health Canada on November 26, 2020 and is being deployed immediately.  

 “The Nuclear Medicine community and our patients have seen multiple supply chain challenges with ^99mTc and other critical medical isotopes.  ARTMS’ QUANTM Irradiation System^TM (QIS^TM) provides the ability to produce large volumes of isotopes in a decentralized manner, which will dynamically change how we supply these diagnostic products to clinicians and the patients they serve. The team at ARTMS is proud to have played a key role in the development and eventual approval of cyclotron produced ^99mTc by Health Canada.  This is just the beginning of leveraging the power and potential of the QIS^TM.  It will take innovative minds like Dr. Paul Schaffer’s, our, Chief Technology Officer and founding lead investigator of ARTMS’ solid target technology, to solve molecular imaging’s next set of challenges.  ARTMS is excited to be a part of the solution,” says Charles S. Conroy, Chief Executive Officer of ARTMS.

^99mTc is the most widely used medical isotope in the world, with over 50 million diagnostic studies performed annually.  ^99mTc-labelled products are used to diagnose a variety of cardiac, oncology and pulmonary conditions.  This isotope has been traditionally supplied by generators sourced via irradiated feedstocks from a handful of aging nuclear reactors around the world.  While reactors will continue to be a key part of the ^99mTc supply chain, ARTMS’ technology will help alleviate widespread shortages when those reactors experience scheduled and unscheduled interruptions in their operations.    

ARTMS will continue to develop cyclotron-produced ^99mTc and other vitally important medical isotopes with a focus on optimizing production potential.  ARTMS has a variety of solid targets commercially available with optimal production yields resulting when the targets are used in combination with ARTMS’ QUANTM Irradiation System^TM (QIS^TM).  ARTMS’ technology enables its customers to produce high quality and high yield isotopes they most need in a timely manner, reducing their reliance on central production.  ARTMS’ QIS^TM and solid target technology allow for up to 40 Ci (1.48 TBq) of ^99mTc to be produced on a single cyclotron.

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About ARTMS,

Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, ARTMS Inc. is a global leader in the development of novel technologies and products which enable the high-quality and high-yield production of the world’s most-used diagnostic imaging isotopes. ARTMS’ flagship product, the QUANTM Irradiation System^TM (QIS^TM), enables decentralized, cost-effective, large-scale production of important medical isotopes such as  gallium-68 (⁶⁸Ga), zirconium-89 (⁸⁹Zr), technetium‐99m (^99mTc) and copper-64 (⁶⁴Cu) using  pharmaceutical distributor and hospital-based medical cyclotrons, empowering users to control their supply chain. ARTMS commercializes these award-winning and proprietary Canadian inventions on a global basis and has the prospect of revolutionizing the nuclear medicine industry.

For more information on the QUANTM Irradiation System™ and ARTMS, please follow us on Twitter @Quantm99 and LinkedIn and visit http://www.artms.ca/