Nuclear Power Related Media Thread, page-4506

Is this the manufacturing process they have started building at Wilmington now?



https://www.listcorp.com/asx/slx/si...d-for-medical-isotope-technology-2974574.html


Proof-of-Concept Completed for Medical Isotope
Separation Technology
20 December 2023
Silex Systems Limited (Silex) (ASX: SLX) (OTCQX: SILXY) is pleased to announce the
successful completion of Stage 1 – Proof-of-concept in the Medical Isotope Separation
Technology (MIST) Project, which commenced in February 2023. Proof-of-concept was
achieved with a Silex custom-built test system at its Lucas Heights facility, south of Sydney.
The Stage 1 results involve the demonstration of an isotopic enrichment effect for the
Ytterbium-176 (Yb-176) isotope, the key pre-cursor for the production of Lutetium-177 (Lu-177) – a breakthrough in nuclear medicine therapy for advanced cancers.

Michael Goldsworthy, Silex’s CEO/Managing Director, said:
“The proof-of-concept demonstration for enrichment of Yb-176 is a great result to end 2023,
and clears the way to proceed to Stage 2 of the MIST Project – which aims to validate the
process at prototype scale, including the first level of scale-up. Lu-177 underpins a
revolutionary therapy for late-stage cancers called targeted beta therapy, and is already
approved for use with prostate cancer patients in the US, UK and Europe. Clinical trials for the
treatment of several other cancers, including breast, neuroendocrine, melanoma and thyroid,
are ongoing around the world, with more approvals anticipated to follow.”
“Yb-176 is difficult and costly to produce, with the Western world facing disrupted supply that
previously came entirely from Russia until the invasion of Ukraine. Silex has learned from
several sources that Yb-176 has traded for around US$16,000 per gram1, which reflects the
difficulties in producing this rare isotope. While the world market for targeted therapies is
emerging, Silex believes it could grow rapidly with broader adoption,” he added.
The results to date are preliminary in nature and follow-up testing will continue in the new year
to build accuracy in test measurements and improve initial process efficiency. The focus in
CY2024 will then turn to the design and construction of a prototype demonstration system,
followed by enrichment testing.
The MIST Project also has the potential to provide a technology platform for application to
other high value medical isotopes. The technology and all associated IP is wholly owned by
Silex Systems.


1. Russia’s Electrokhimprebor – the principal supplier of Yb-176 – has a production capacity of c.700g of enriched
Yb-176 per year. This capacity can be compared with future expected demand: the volume of Yb-176 required
for the treatment of 100,000 patients (four doses per patient) with Lu-177 is estimated at c.3kg annually (four
times higher than current worldwide production capacity), and would constitute a US$48m annual market (at
a cost of US$16,000 per gram Yb-176). Source: European Commission, Co-ordinated Approach to the
Development and Supply of Radionuclides in the EU, pp. 127-128 (2021