US-based Shine Medical Technologies announced on 19 May that it has selected the municipality of Veendam in the province of Groningen, the Netherlands, as the location of its European medical isotope production facility. The decision is the culmination of a year-long search that included the review of more than 50 proposals from sites across Europe.
Shine’s European facility will be focused initially on the production of molybdenum-99. Its technology can also be used to produce a broad range of other medical isotopes, including iodine-131, xenon-133 and lutetium-177 at the site. There is strong demand for lutetium-177 from clinical trial sponsors because of its potential to revolutionise the treatment of cancer patients. Shine has begun production of Lu-177 at its US facility.
Harrie Buurlage, Shine’s vice president of European operations, said; “The production facility will be a solution for all of Europe, enabling Shine to deliver a reliable, flexible supply of a broad range of critical medical isotopes to European customers, starting with molybdenum-99.
Veendam was selected because of the availability of highly skilled and educated workers, easy transportation access to the European market, the proximity to royal university and accelerator technology knowledge and infrastructure.The European facility, combined with the capacity of Shine’s US plant, will be able to produce 70% percent of the global requirements. Construction of the new production facility is expected to begin in 2023 and to begin commercial production in late 2025.
