It consumes more than half of the global use of Mo-99, a fact that led the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, OEMs, advocacy groups and nuclear medicine providers worldwide to urge Congress in July 2018 to provide money toward a domestic supply of Mo-99 in the U.S.

The group pointed to “problems with international sources due to various technical reasons” in its letter to the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development to approve a provision in both the House of Representatives and Senate Fiscal Year 2019 Energy and Water Appropriation bills that would help fund production of Mo-99 as part of the National Nuclear Safety Administration’s medical isotope program.


“Mo-99 and Tc-99m are used every day in the clinic, from cancer staging to the detection of cardiac disease to neurological evaluation,” Satoshi Minoshima, then president of SNMMI and one of the signatories of the letter, told HCB News at the time. “It is critical for the U.S. to develop sustainable sources of Mo-99 so that we will not be reliant on foreign sources for a product that is essential to healthcare in the U.S.”

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