MICROSOURCE PRODUCTION FOR BRACHYTHERAPY TREATMENT IS LAUNCHED IN DUBNA
Bebig Company launched the production line for IsoCord radiation microsources based on the iodine-125 isotope in Dubna. The project is a joint venture of the European Group Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG and RUSNANO companies. Total investment in the project amounted to 688 million rubles, including RUSNANO co-funding in the amount of 496 million rubles.
Iodine-125 isotope microsources are used in the treatment of localized prostate cancer by means of low-dose brachytherapy, in which radioactive source is introduced into the affected organ. Open production provides a full cycle of the process, including the obtaining of microsources, twining them into a thread, all quality control stages of production, packaging and sterilization of the finished product. The required production processes undergo in clean rooms, created by Bebig order on the territory of The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR). ISO 8 category is assigned to the premises in accordance with GOST R ISO 14644. Isotopes are produced at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region. Start of production will simplify logistics and reduce delivery times for microsources into medical institutions, will provide an opportunity to deliver microsources with different nominal rate of activity, depending on the doctors’ queries or supply microsources in small quantities to treat a particular patient. In the long term it will allow delivering microsources in needles for implantation, thereby decreasing the preparatory phase of the operation by brachytherapy method and relieve physicians from having much more time to work with radioactive material.
According to FSBI "P.A. Herzen Moscow Oncology Research Institute" cancers affect 2.2% of the total population, of which 4.8% suffer from prostate cancer. At that the mortality rate in the first year after diagnosis is 10.3%. Brachytherapy, nanotechnology of nuclear medicine, saves not only lives for patients, but also the usual quality of life, prevents disability. Bebig delivers microsources into 21 medical centers across Russia. In 2013 more than 1000 operations were performed with the help of brachytherapy method. “Our goal is to provide the opportunity for all those in need to take advantage of this high-performance method”, - said Kirill Mayorov, Bebig Director General.
Kirill Mayorov, Bebig Director General, tells Anatoly Chubais, Chairman of the Board of “Holding Company “Rusnano” about the production line.
Demonstration of equipment to verify the quality of the finished product in a clean area.
Kirill Mayorov, Director General of Bebig, answers the questions of journalists.
