Shine Medical Technologies is in talks with the city of Janesville, WI, for additional funds to advance and complete its venture to build a facility to make medical isotopes.
According to a May 30 report from the GazetteXtra, the company is looking to build a prototype of the facility, which could delay the commercialization of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) another three to six months. Shine has proposed the construction of a $100 million operation for Mo-99 production with a completion target date of 2019, which may be in jeopardy.
In December 2016, Shine received $10 million from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) as part of a $20.9 million cooperative agreement through the department's Mo-99 program.
Shine last year also was awarded a contract to provide Mo-99 to Chinese radiopharmaceutical provider HTA. In November 2015, GE Healthcare and Shine successfully obtained pharmaceutical-grade technetium-99m (Tc-99m) from GE's Drytec Tc-99m generator using Mo-99 produced by Shine.
However, the company hasn't been raising funds as quickly as expected, which has forced it to build a prototype facility first rather than going straight to the manufacturing facility, according to the article. The company hopes that the city will help fund the prototype facility.
