EANM: Conditions for reliable and sustainable supply of Mo-99

Dear Colleagues,

With this letter, EANM would like to inform you about the conditions necessary to ensure a reliable and sustainable future for our discipline.

Global situation regarding Mo-99 supply

As you know, following the 2009 crisis in the supply of Mo-99, the best experts have been sought by all involved governments in order to assess the causes of the shortage and to define the conditions necessary to avoid a repetition.

A worldwide consensus has designated OECD as the best organisation to meet governments’ expectations.

EANM has carefully reviewed the assumptions, the conclusions and the recommendations of the NEA/OECD High-Level Group on the Security of Supply of Medical Radioisotopes, which was set up to examine the global supply shortage and to develop a suitable policy approach*.

Those recommendations have been discussed and shared with the European Commission, the governments’ representatives, SNMMI and the industry representatives through AIPES, the European industry association in Brussels.

The key recommendation is clear: if we want to create a reliable and sustainable future for our discipline, the pricing system for the Mo-99/Tc-99m generator needs to change substantially as soon as possible.

New pricing policy

The new pricing approach should, in a transparent approach:

1. include the full implementation of the agreed NEA/OECD policy of Full Cost Recovery (FCR) and payment for Outage Reserve Capacity (ORC); 
2. include the security and safety requirements for nuclear operations, which have become more stringentover the last few years, including the implementation of nuclear non-proliferation measures; 
3. include the new radioactive waste management facilities;
4. include all technical and organisational requirements for compliance with applicable GoodManufacturing Practice (GMP) and related principles;
5. ensure that a future business model will be financially sound and robust without financial support or subsidies from government.
6. 
   

Your Mo-99/Tc-99m generator supplier has either already contacted you regarding this policy or will do so in the near future.

The background behind this letter is the need to make you aware of the situation and the risks associated with it. Please contact EANM if you want more data or information on this issue.

Kind regards,

Fred Verzijlbergen

EANM President 2013-2014

and the EANM Executive Committee

---

* You can consult the OECD reports on the NEA/OECD website at :

www.oecd-nea.org/med-radio/