JANESVILLE, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SHINE Medical Technologies LLC today announced that the company has broken ground on a new 54,000-square-foot facility that will house its corporate headquarters and a large-scale production facility for the Therapeutics division it established last year.
SHINE’s therapeutics facility will initially produce lutetium-177 (Lu-177), a therapeutic isotope in demand by clinical trial sponsors because of its potential to improve outcomes for patients with certain types of cancer. When the facility is operational in 2022, it will be capable of producing more than 300,000 doses of Lu-177 per year, enabling SHINE to support anticipated demand for the therapeutic isotope over the next five years. In the short term, SHINE will produce Lu-177 under GMP conditions at its Building One.
“SHINE expects to play a leading role in supplying Lu-177 to serve cancer patients around the world,” said Katrina Pitas, general manager of SHINE’s Therapeutics division. “Our new therapeutics production facility will enable us to implement our proprietary production process and scale faster than any other producer. Our production technology produces the more concentrated, non-carrier-added Lu-177 that is used by today’s clinical trials. Our production of Lu-177 also will benefit from vertical integration of our supply chain, including the raw material for our product, ytterbium-176.”
“I want to convey our enthusiasm for the SHINE project,” said Christian Behrenbruch, Ph.D., CEO of Telix Pharmaceuticals. “What you’re doing is vitally important to the whole industry. Without your industrialization, commitment to quality and scalable production process, Telix would not have a business to run. We know there are others that are going to rely on your capabilities. You make Telix shine.” See a video of Dr. Behrenbruch’s full remarks here.
“We at POINT are excited by SHINE’s announcement to begin producing lutetium-177 in North America, as lutetium-177 is a key ingredient in our Phase III prostate cancer program and our pipeline of products,” said Joe McCann, Ph.D., CEO of POINT Biopharma. “POINT is building a large radioligand facility, which could greatly benefit from SHINE’s commitment to produce hundreds of curies a week. Congratulations on the groundbreaking of your new facility and your tremendous commitment to our industry.” See a video of Dr. McCann’s full remarks here.
The 54,000-square-foot building will sit to the northeast of the facility SHINE is constructing to produce molybdenum-99. Thirty-five thousand square feet of the facility will comprise the company’s new headquarters, which will be focused on centralizing SHINE’s growing workforce.
“The best work we do at SHINE is the result of working together, collaborating and sharing expertise and experience,” said Greg Piefer, founder and CEO of SHINE. “We are getting back to that model in our new headquarters, which will have ample work and meeting space in addition to fitness and other amenities. We are grateful to the City of Janesville for its partnership in this facility and look forward to continuing to be an active member and a significant employer in the Janesville area.” See a video of the full groundbreaking video here.
“We are thrilled with our partnership with SHINE,” said Gale Price, economic development director, City of Janesville, “Both the therapeutics plant and the molybdenum plant exemplify the growth of this community and how we’ve been able to evolve. We appreciate the chance our partnership with SHINE has given us to recreate ourselves. This is a community-changing project, and we are thankful that the community has become a center of technology and the future of medicine.”
About SHINE Medical Technologies
SHINE is a nuclear technology company committed to improving the lives of patients around the world. The company is focused initially on the commercialization of medical isotopes, including molybdenum-99, a diagnostic isotope used to diagnose heart disease, cancer and other diseases, and lutetium-177, a therapeutic isotope that holds the promise of significantly improving the outcomes for some cancer patients. SHINE has created isotope production processes that will deliver products to benefit physicians and patients and help solve critical supply problems in the United States and markets in Europe and around the world. SHINE has a long-term strategy to solve some of humanity’s biggest problems and advance our vision for progressively broad and impactful uses of nuclear technology. For more information, please visit our website at www.shinemed.com.
