The Society of Nuclear Medicine announced Friday that HR Bill 3276, milestone legislation that could open doors to future U.S. supply of molybdenum-99, has passed the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The bill will now be presented to the House for a full vote and is expected to be passed by the end of the month.

"This legislation is giving the Department of Energy the charge to help develop the production of molybdenum-99 and $165 million dollars would be devoted to the effort," said Dr. Robert Atcher, immediate past-president of the Society. "It's good news for us that there is recognition in the Congress that there is a problem and we need to use our resources at the federal level to solve the problem."

There are two major aspects of the legislation -- to fund domestic projects for the supply of molybdenum-99 and to establish the conversion from highly enriched uranium targets, which are associated with nuclear weapon proliferation, to low-enriched targets, which are not involved in weapons production. If passed, the time line for accomplishing these goals would be seven to 12 years.

"It's within the time frame that we think is reasonable, but suppliers will need to start actively exploring the re-engineering of their processes to meet that goal."

2009 EANM Annual Congress a Hit

The Annual Congress of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine was recently held in Barcelona, Spain. Attendance appeared to be very strong, with more than 5,530 participants taking part in EANM 2009, held Oct. 10-14 at the Barcelona International Convention Center.

Don Bogutski, president of Diagnostix Plus, a major provider of nuclear medicine systems, parts and service, was in attendance and offered DOTmed some insight into the meeting and the European nuclear medicine industry.

"We go to that meeting every year," said Bogutski. "Unlike recent nuclear medicine shows -- the Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting in June and the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology [earlier this month] -- the meeting in Spain seemed to be better attended and was more upbeat in its tone."

Bogutski said that it was reportedly the best-attended nuclear medicine meeting at this venue; he relayed three major market influences contributing to the disparity between the most recent nuclear medicine conferences in North America and EANM. For one thing, there seemed to be some relief from the tension surrounding Molybdenum-99 supply shortages, a tension that had been palpable at the SNM annual meeting this year.

The difference in atmosphere may have been due to adequate supply of the medical isotope in Europe from a local reactor, the BR2 high-flux reactor in Brussels, Belgium. Even with the Petten reactor in the Netherlands providing the majority of current U.S. supply, the North American nuclear medicine industry is still edgy over the closure of the Canadian Chalk River facility, which previously fit the bill till it was shut down due to a water leak in May 2009.

"Europe doesn't rely upon Chalk River," said Bogutski. "The majority of European supply comes from the Brussels reactor and it is running at normal capacity."

Two other major influences are at work in the European market: improving economic conditions and the structure of socialized health care, which may be conducive to more consistency in European sales, said Bogutski.

"Right now the U.S. tilt is toward extending the life of the equipment and relying upon the used sector of the market rather than buying new," he said.

The marketing strategies of major manufacturers of nuclear medicine equipment appear to be taking these realities into account. Bogutski said major manufacturers are being more conservative in their U.S. trade show presence, to the point where some are choosing not to exhibit equipment at trade shows where they previously had a strong presence.

GE Healthcare Launches New SPECT/CT System

GE launched their new SPECT/CT system, the Discovery NM/CT 670, at this year's EANM meeting. Bogutski estimated that the U.S. market for nuclear medicine equipment is approaching ten times the size of the Western European market, and that GE Healthcare's launch of the Discovery NM/CT 670 is a positive sign of rebounding in that market. GE is awaiting FDA approval before it can introduce the product in the U.S.

The Discovery NM/CT 670 is a continuation of the Discovery series of hybrid SPECT/CT systems. This model combines the BrightSpeed 16 slice CT and advanced gamma-detector technology in a modular gantry. The NM/CT 670 can provide both hybrid and separate CT and SPECT imaging studies and the system is associated with dramatically shortened image acquisition times. For example, for bone studies, the reduction in scan times can be as much as 30 minutes, which can aid in the prevention of motion artifacts.

Next Up

If passed by the House, HR 3276 will go before the Senate. Stay tuned for more news from SNM and coverage of this important legislation.

The next EANM 2010 Annual Congress is scheduled for October 9-13 in Vienna, Austria.

Read more on DOTmed:
House Subcommittee Passes American Medical Isotopes Production Act
www.dotmed.com/news/story/10495