Medical Isotopes

LPII is developing innovative approaches to the use, production and distribution of medical isotopes for advanced diagnostic and non-surgical therapeutic applications. A medical isotope is a radioactive substance used in very small quantities for safe, cost-effective medical imaging and treatment of disease. 

The cornerstone equipment selected for the LPII Production Facility is a proton linear accelerator.  This proton linear accelerator is designed to replace large and cyclotron systems with significant infrastructure and utility requirements, such as electrical and air-handling, for the production of positron emitting isotopes. Large amounts of fluorine-18, carbon-11, nitrogen-13, and oxygen-15 can be produced for synthesis into compounds used in oncology, cardiology, neurology, and molecular imaging.  The radio-labeled glucose analog, FDG, can be synthesized and distributed for use in Positron Emission Tomography.  LPII believes that no other accelerator in North America has sufficient flexibility to produce the full spectrum of PET imaging radioisotopes, as well as other high-demand isotopes, both short and long lived, for diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

From 2008 through 2013, LPII manufactured and sold F-18 FDG from its Production Facility in its local region around Kennewick, WA.   F-18 is an important isotope in the radiopharmaceutical industry, and is primarily synthesized into fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) for use in positron emission tomography (PET) scans.  FDG is the primary PET imaging isotope.  It is used for medical and diagnostic purposes, such as cancer detection, heart imaging, and brain imaging.  LPII’s linear accelerator is capable of producing a variety of isotopes and future manufacturing and sales could expand beyond F-18 FDG.  LPII’s accelerator is currently off-line for maintenance and is expected to resume operations in late 2014.