MDS Nordion Begins to Manufacture Cardiac Ima...( Bracco's Cardiogen-82(R) Enables Ca...),Health

    Bracco's Cardiogen-82(R) Enables Cardiologists to Better Detect
    Cardiovascular Disease

OTTAWA, June 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - MDS Nordion, a leading provider of medical isotopes and radiopharmaceuticals, today announced that it has commenced the manufacture of CardioGen-82(R) (Rubidium-82 generators), for Bracco Diagnostics, Inc. (part of Bracco Group), one of the world's leading companies in the imaging agent business.

MDS Nordion has designed and built a dedicated manufacturing suite within its world-class, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)-compliant production facility in Ottawa. Production of CardioGen-82 began yesterday.

CardioGen-82, the only generator-based, cardiac Positron Emission Tomography (PET) perfusion imaging agent approved by the FDA, produces Rubidium-82, using a specialized generator technology. Once administered to the patient, Rubidium-82 is used as a PET imaging tracer for perfusion studies of the heart to examine blood flow through heart vessels. PET is a highly sensitive medical imaging technique that produces a three-dimensional image of the functioning heart, allowing the cardiologist to identify regions of the heart muscle receiving poor blood flow.

"There is growing interest in advanced molecular imaging technologies to help better diagnose and treat disease," said Steve West, President of MDS Nordion. "MDS Nordion provides a full spectrum of services for the development and commercialization of novel radiopharmaceuticals. For more than 10 years, companies like Bracco have been relying on our proven track record for innovative solutions, quality, and reliability that make MDS Nordion the partner of choice."

A 2007 Frost & Sullivan report entitled U.S. PET and PET-CT (Computerized Tomography) Imaging Equipment Markets indicated that use of PET imaging as a diagnostic tool is on the rise. For the period 2007-2014
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