Canada’s MDS Nordion will work on a project to develop new imaging agents for cancer detection with two other French partners, the company announced Thursday.
Ottawa-based MDS is teaming up with pharmaceutical company Guerbet and imaging centre Cyceron to study the application of Gallium-68 (Ga-68) as a positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracer for cancer diagnostics.
MDS will provide the generator technology as well as other technical expertise.
"This project is another example of how MDS Nordion continues to be a valued partner by leaders in the molecular imaging field," said Peter Covitz, senior vice-president of innovation at MDS. "We believe that partnering with Guerbet and Cyceron — utilizing our different strengths and capabilities — will further advance technology and improve molecular imaging for the future."
MDS supplies more than half of the world’s isotopes. Ontario’s Chalk River nuclear reactor shutdown has wiped out approximately $4 million from the company’s quarterly earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, the company’s new chief executive Steve West recently told QMI Agency.
Currently, the most common radioisotope used in PET imaging is Fluorine-18. Gallium-68 is viewed by the research and medical communities as an important emerging isotope for the development of new diagnostic PET tracers.
