Lantheus Holdings Inc. announced today that it shipped its first commercial of Xenon 133 from a new supplier. The company used unprocessed radiochemical Xenon 133 from the Institute for Radioelements (IRE) in Belgium to create the radiopharmaceutical.
"As the leading provider of finished vials of Xenon 133, Lantheus has delivered on our commitment to the U.S. medical imaging community to secure consistent supply of this important diagnostic imaging agent," Bill Dawes, vice president of manufacturing and operations at Lantheus, told HCB News.
Xenon 133 is an inhaled radiopharmaceutical imaging agent that's used to evaluate pulmonary function and image the lungs. It can also be used to check the blood flow in a patient's brain.
Lantheus received approval from the FDA earlier this month for IRE to be its supplier of unprocessed radiochemical Xenon 133, which is a byproduct of the molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) process.
When the National Research Universal reactor in Canada is shut down in October, IRE's supply will supplement and eventually replace Lantheus' current Xenon 133 supply from the NRU.
"Through our exceptional quality, regulatory, technical, and commercial collaboration with IRE, a world leader in the production of medical isotopes, Lantheus continues to provide solutions to our customers and the patients that they serve," said Dawes.
In April 2013, Lantheus announced a supply contract with IRE to receive a supply of Mo-99, which is the parent isotope of technetium-99m (Tc-99m) to be used with its TechneLite Tc-99m generators.
It was a five-year agreement in which IRE would supply Mo-99 through December 31, 2017. Lantheus also receives Mo-99 from four of the five major processors and seven of the eight associated reactors.
“Providing for an uninterrupted high-quality supply of Xenon 133 and Molybdenum-99 is a key priority for our team while we simultaneously work to ensure that our important LEU conversion program meets the needs of its global stakeholders in the future," Jean-Michel Vanderhofstadt, CEO of IRE, said in a statement.
