Latest News
NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes Receives Additional Funding Award for Medical Isotope Program
(Nov 1, 2011) The National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) Global Threat Reduction Initiative announced today the signing of a cooperative agreement with NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, LLC, to further the development of accelerator-based technology to produce molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) in the United States.
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Race for isotope shows Wisconsin's strength
(Nov 5, 2011) What does it say about a state's innovation-based economy when it boasts not one but two of the four U.S. companies racing to produce a medical isotope so essential that it's used in 50,000 clinical tests per day? Something reassuring, it can be hoped, especially if you believe Wisconsin's future depends in part on its ability to grow new companies from within.
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NorthStar Named Winner of BioForward's 2011 Emerging Company Showcase
(Sept 8, 2011) NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes was among six Wisconsin bioscience companies to be selected as the winners of BioForward's 2011 Emerging Company Showcase.
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Northstar's Technology
NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, LLC was formed in 2006 to provide new technologies and raw material to the nuclear medicine market to resolve problems that have plagued the industry and have stalled clinical research and production supply challenges. NorthStar's patented technologies include a novel separation chemistry system, innovative raw material production methods and tools for the nuclear medicine market.
Molybdenum-99 and Technetium-99m
Over the past 18 months, NorthStar has demonstrated it can produce Molybdenum-99 and its daughter Technetium-99m in a safe, reliable and cost effective manner. This radiopharmaceutical imaging agent is administered ~50,000 times per day in the US alone to support diagnosis of abnormalities and progress of disease in Neurology, Oncology, Cardiac, Pulmonary and Orthopedic applications. While most of the testing today is dominated by heart imaging, other tissues and organs within the body are constantly being researched to improve early detection and disease management.
NorthStar's Molybdenum-99 production processes are safe and redundant and the waste stream is easily managed when compared to the costly and difficult to handle waste stream generated with current and other proposed uranium fission methods. We have been provided funding from the Department of Energy to become a domestic supplier of this important nuclear medicine isotope. NorthStar expects to be in commercial production and distribution by mid- 2012.
Actinium-225
NorthStar's technology is also playing a key role in clinical trials administering Actinium-225 and its daughter isotope Bismuth-213. These isotopes have proven in early trials they can deliver therapeutic doses in disease management of many hard to treat incurable diseases such as cancers, leukemia and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). NorthStar is pursuing a novel production method with the Office of Science to facilitate a robust, comprehensive and reliable supply of Actinium-225. Today's world's production of Actinum-225 can only treat 100 patients per year. Initial testing of this new technology indicates that NorthStar can produce in one day, more than 15 times what is produced in the world in a year. NorthStar's generator technology provides researchers and upon FDA approval health care providers the ability to administer either Actinum-225 or Bismuth-213 with consistent ultra purity and consistent chemical composition no matter where patients are being treated.
NorthStar's Intellectual Property Portfolio
NorthStar is also using its network of scientists and engineers to create breakthroughs in the production and processing of Rhenium-188, Thallium-201, Gallium-67, and Indium-111 to mention a few while pursuing several other cost effective alternatives. Our technology portfolio is extensive and our solutions are the genesis for researchers and healthcare providers to create the next generation of radiopharmaceutical diagnosis and treatment options for many of today's medical challenges. Combining these opportunities with our separation and production expertise, NorthStar's generator technology makes it possible to separate radioactive isotopes with extremely short half lives, with high purity at the point of care, which today is virtually unavailable. With the success NorthStar has experienced and the breadth of its technology portfolio, it is clear that:
NorthStar is enabling the future of nuclear medicine!