Hendricks Holdings makes Investment in NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes
(MADISON, WI. – April 7, 2011) – NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, LLC (NorthStar) announced it has received an investment from Hendricks Holdings of Beloit, WI. The investment will allow NorthStar to rapidly pursue introduction of new technologies and production methodologies in the nuclear medicine market for molybdenum-99 and other medically significant radioisotopes. Molybdenum-99 is used to support 50,000 diagnostic procedures performed daily in the United States.
“NorthStar is pleased to have Hendricks Holdings as a partner as we apply NorthStar’s technologies to solve the molybdenum-99 shortages have existed in the medical community during the past several years. We believe that our technology will establish a more secure, cost effective and redundant domestic source of molybdenum-99,” said George P. Messina, NorthStar’s President. “The investment by Hendricks will allow NorthStar to rapidly introduce our cutting edge technologies into the nuclear medicine industry and is key in helping the industry eliminate the challenges associated with this very important medical isotope.” Messina also stated. “We expect to be in production within the next six months and we believe that NorthStar is the only company currently pursuing a solution that is only a few months away from being introduced into the market place.”
Diane Hendricks, Chairman of Hendricks Holding Company, states “I am delighted to be an investor in such an entrepreneurial and innovative business. The U.S. is currently dependent upon foreign countries for its entire supply of molybdenum-99 and NorthStar has the technology to become a reliable domestic supplier of this critical isotope.”
NorthStar’s approach helps to resolve the molybdenum-99 supply challenges by producing low specific activity (LSA) molybdenum-99 without using uranium as the source material. NorthStar’s process utilizes a stable non-radioactive isotope of molybdenum (molybdenum-98) that produces significantly less waste byproducts that are easily handled and disposed of. Any production method using enriched uranium creates an extremely difficult to handle and costly waste that exists for thousands of years. NorthStar‘s approach completely avoids any of the issues associated with use of uranium.
LSA molybdenum-99 produced will be transferred to NorthStar’s patented TechneGen™ Generator System, a key technology in making this process viable. The high specific activity (HSA) technetium-99m produced will meet the United States Pharmacopeia requirements. NorthStar’s goal is to begin domestic production of molybdenum-99 alleviating dependency on foreign sources. “The TechneGen process provides a unique tool in a compact format that make routine processing at a nuclear pharmacy safe, effective, and reproducible” stated NorthStar’s Chief Science Officer Dr. James T. Harvey.
About the Hendricks Holdings
Hendricks Holding Company, Inc. is a diversified global holding company headquartered in Beloit, Wisconsin. We consist of twenty-three operating companies and 1,700 associates competing in the following industries: manufacturing, distribution, transportation and logistics, insurance, environmental and real estate. Each company operates autonomously and seeks to be a leader in their respective industry by providing customers with the highest quality products and services.
About NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes
NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes was founded in 2004 to pursue development of technologies and provide tools that would be instrumental in bringing rare radioisotopes to the nuclear medicine market. The TechneGen Generator System is one such tool. NorthStar’s programs include enabling the research community to continue their clinical trial efforts in the development of therapies to fight diseases such as cancer and HIV. In addition to molybdenum-99, NorthStar is currently developing technologies to produce, among others, actinium-225 (whose daughter bismuth-213 is considered a promising cancer therapeutic and is also a possible therapy for HIV), actinium-227 (for the treatment of metastatic bone cancer from Hormone Refractory Prostate Cancer), and tungsten-188 (for the treatment of melanoma). (www.northstarnm.com)