Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom subsidiary Isotope – Regional Alliance has delivered the first shipment of germanium-68/gallium-68 (Ge-68/Ga-68) generators to India, Rosatom said earlier this month.
A germanium-68/gallium-68 generator is a device used to extract the positron-emitting isotope 68Ga of gallium from a source of decaying germanium-68. Its decay product gallium-68 is extracted and used for certain positron emission tomography (PET) nuclear medicine diagnostic procedures.
A Rosatom statement said the Ge-68/Ga-68 generators were manufactured by Cyclotron Company Ltd based in Obninsk, Russia, for supplying to India under a contract with Indian medical product distributor Esente Healthcare.
“According to the contract terms, Isotope JSC will supply the Indian side with 40 units of Ge-68/Ga-68 generators within a year,” the statement said.
Earlier, with the assistance of Isotope JSC, a registration certificate was obtained from India’s Central Drugs Standard Control
Organisation for the sale of Ge-68/Ga-68 generators supplied by the Russian manufacturer, Rosatom said.
“Ga-68 isotope is used in nuclear medicine to diagnose a wide range of oncological diseases using PET scanners, enabling performance of more than 100,000 diagnostic procedures per year globally,” the statement added.
“The supply of germanium-68/gallium-68 generators under a contract with the distributor – Esente Healthcare – opens up new opportunities for expansion of the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation presence in the Indian nuclear medicine market and will also ensure the growth of trade in isotope products between our countries,” Isotope JSC’s Deputy Director General for Commercial Affairs, Anton Shargin, said in a statement.
The statement said that Cyclotron CJSC is the leading Russian manufacturer of radioactive cyclotron isotopes and radiation sources. Cyclotron CJSC was the first in the world to launch the commercial production of germanium-68/gallium-68 generators which opened the way for the fast development and application of radiopharmaceuticals based on gallium-68 in Russia and outside.
While Rosatom holds 30 percent of global market share in the cobalt-60 isotope, its subsidiary Rusatom Healthcare supplies isotope products to more than 50 countries in the world, enabling diagnosis and treatment of about 2.5 million people every year.
