Europe to Offer Lucrative Opportunities to the Emerging Players in the Molybdenum 99

Introduction

Molybdenum 99 is extracted from highly enriched uranium or low enriched uranium, which is further decayed into Technetium 99. Technetium 99 is extremely useful for medicinal imaging as it emits only gamma rays and can be encapsulated into many different molecules that target various types of tissue in the body. In the current scenario, it is made in nuclear reactors by creating a radioactive isotope of molybdenum, and further decaying it into technetium 99m. The 60-year-old NRU reactor based in Canada is the largest supplier of medicinal isotopes for North America, and the reactor has experienced two extended and unscheduled shutdowns in the past ten years.

Recently, scientists in Canada came up with the medical isotope technetium 99m, which was extracted using medical cyclotrons. This material is made only in a few aging nuclear reactors globally. Cyclotron-based production is pretty compatible, and many medical physicists see it as the future of medical isotopes. It is anticipated that technetium-99m procedures will be replaced by positron-emission tomography, which also uses isotopes made in cyclotrons.

Market Dynamic

Increasing Demand for Nuclear Medicines  to Drive Europe’s Market Growth

Nuclear medicine is progressing well in Europe, and the increasing demand for nuclear medicines is expected to provide a fillip to the molybdenum 99 market growth. Molybdenum 99 is extensively used in the medical imaging industry. During the past ten years, the emerging field of hybrid imaging has contributed immensely to the escalated impact of nuclear medicine on patient management. In 2019, as many as 44.8 million imaging tests were reported in England, compared to 42.7 million in the previous year, showcasing an increase of 4.8%.

Plain radiography (X-Ray) was amongst the most commonly used with almost 23.5 million procedures, followed by diagnostic ultrasonography with 10.2 million. Computerized axial tomography recorded 5.67 million proceedings, and magnetic resonance imaging had 3.74 million proceedings. In Europe, Molybdenum 99 is produced using high enriched uranium.

Competitive Players

1. Curium Company
2. Eckert & Ziegler Holding Company
3. Shine Medical Technologies
4. NTP Radioisotopes SOC Ltd.
5. North Star Medical Radioisotopes LLC
6. JSC Isotope
7. ANSTO
8. Lantheus Medical Imaging Inc.
9. IRE ELIT
10. Niowave Inc.

Recent Developments

• January 2024- Chinese researchers have devised a method to produce the medicinal isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) with an electron accelerator system.
• January 2024- The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and Canadian Nuclear Isotope Council (CNIC) have declared their intention to collaborate in order to ensure a supply of medicinal radioisotopes.

Segmentation

1. By Product Type
   1. Production by Non-Highly Enriched Uranium
   2. Production by Highly Enriched Uranium
2. By Industry
   1. Scientific Research
   2. Medical
3. By Isotopic Application
   1. Gamma Camera
   2. SPECT
4. By End User
   1. Research Institutes
   2. Hospitals and Diagnostic Centers