OTTAWA, December 23, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Nordion Inc., a leading provider of products and services to the global health science market, today announced that its first sample of Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) has been shipped from its Russian Federation partner, The Open Joint Stock Company "Isotope" (Isotope).

In September 2010, Nordion entered into a supply agreement with Isotope for a supplemental supply of Mo-99 until 2020. This recent sample of Mo-99 will be evaluated at the processing facility in Ottawa, Canada. The qualification part of the process is necessary to obtain the product registration and regulatory approvals before the Company can begin receiving supply for licensed distribution.

"The shipment of this first sample of Mo-99 marks a key milestone in our supply agreement with Isotope. In collaboration with Isotope, we look forward to completing the evaluation and moving forward on providing our customers with greater stability in their supply chain," said Jill Chitra, Senior Vice-President Quality and Regulatory Affairs, Nordion. "We expect to receive supply for shipment in the first half of fiscal 2011, which is anticipated to arrive in time to help alleviate the impact of the planned National Research Universal (NRU) reactor shutdown currently intended for mid-May 2011."

Nordion's Mo-99 supply agreement with Isotope provides back up supply for the Company's customer base and is expected to improve the Company's supply chain reliability.

In preparation for this first sample shipment, the Russian Federation Government and Rosatom State Corporation have invested in both new and existing infrastructure. On December 18, 2010, the first line of production for Mo-99 was started at the Atomic Reactors Research Institute in Dimitrovgrad, Russia.

"The launch of this production complex is an important event. The combination of modern radiochemical production with several reactors at one site should provide an uninterrupted supply of isotopes for the future," said Andrey Silkin, General Director, Isotope. "With the aging population and growing demand for diagnostics, the timing of our supply to the market is well matched to global needs."

Medical isotopes are used by physicians to better diagnose and treat a number of diseases, including cardiac and neurological conditions, and several types of cancer. According to the World Nuclear Association, over 10,000 hospitals worldwide use radioisotopes in medicine, and about 90 per cent of the procedures are for diagnosis. The most common radioisotope used in diagnosis is technetium-99m, a derivative of Mo-99, which is utilized in approximately 80 per cent of nuclear medical procedures worldwide - up to 70,000 every day.