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Press
Release - August 2002
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - August 27, 2002 AlphaMed Announces Collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for Preparing and Distributing a Unique Cancer-treatment Radioisotope ACTON, Mass. - AlphaMed Inc. announced today that it is entering into a collaboration with the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory by signing a cooperative research and development agreement. AlphaMed and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will continue to supply lead-212/bismuth-212 generators using existing technology while testing and evaluating advanced concepts for the production and distribution of these medical isotopes. AlphaMed Inc. has been awarded a grant from the Department of Energy to privatize the production of radioisotope generators critical to research being conducted by the National Cancer Institute, the University of Chicago, and private radiopharmaceutical companies. AlphaMed and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have agreed to collaborate to design, test and evaluate new and existing technologies for processing uranium-232 and producing radium-224/lead-212/bismuth-212 radionuclide generators. Lead-212 and bismuth-212 are alpha emitting radioisotopes that are used for research in radioimmunotherapy with important applications that include treating leukemia and metastatic cancers. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2002 there will be more than 1.2 million new cases of cancer diagnosed and more than one-half million deaths will be attributed to cancer. In the fight against this dreaded disease, researchers have achieved promising results with minimal patient side effects when they combined alpha emitting radionuclides with an antibody that is designed to target tumor cells. The high energy released by the alpha particles, with their short range and half-life, destroys the tumor cells with minimal damage to healthy tissue. "Metastatic cancer is difficult to treat. Alpha particles emitted by bismuth-212, which lasts for about an hour in the cancer patient, show promise as being highly effective at destroying cancer cells," said Dr. Darrell Fisher, a medical physicist who leads the radioisotope research program at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. "When bismuth-212 is delivered to cancer cell surfaces using cell-directed radioimmunotherapy, the alpha particles that are emitted have a high probability of killing cancer cells with minimal irradiation of normal cells in healthy organs and tissues." Under terms of the grant, AlphaMed will acquire the generator source materials from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Chicago, where bismuth-212 was previously produced for biomedical research. AlphaMed will then work with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory under the cooperative research and development agreement to further refine the generator production technology. According to company president, Richard Testa, and vice president of isotope development, Herbert Moore, "We are pleased to support promising cancer therapy research by increasing the supply of scarce alpha-emitting radionuclides. A commercial supply of Bi-212 will encourage more research in this very promising area. AlphaMed brings to this collaboration its intellectual property position and commercialization vision that enables it to produce and market alpha emitting radionuclides. We also wish to thank the customers and acknowledge the assistance of senior scientists and researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Department of Energy and Eichrom Technologies and especially the University of Chicago, in making this a seamless transition." In addition, AlphaMed is conducting development on other isotopes. It has an exclusive patent license from MIT and grants from the Department of Energy and the Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention that enables it to develop its photonuclear reaction technology to produce actinium-225/bismuth-213, a radionuclide that has shown promise in medical research. The company is also seeking venture partners to develop low-cost, high-purity yttrium-90. It is offering for delivery in 2003: actinium-225, indium-111, lutetium-177, iodine-123, copper-67, and scandium-47. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is operated by Battelle for the Department of Energy. AlphaMed Inc. is a small business headquartered in Acton, Massachusetts. For further information,
contact Mr. Richard Testa, President, AlphaMed Inc., at richard.testa@alphamed.biz
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