Contact: Dawn Sovinec
SHINE Medical Technologies, Inc.
608) 831-0814, dawn.sovinec@shinemed.com
Shine Medical Technologies: To site new manufacturing plant in Janesville
New business expected to create more than 100 permanent jobs by 2015
JANESVILLE, Wis. – SHINE Medical Technologies, a Middleton-based company dedicated to being the world leader in safe, clean, affordable production of medical isotopes and cancer treatment elements, announced today that it intends to build a new manufacturing plant in Janesville. Plant completion is planned for 2015, with more than 100 permanent employees and potential for further employment growth.
The new plant will enable SHINE to become the first large-scale domestic supplier of molybdenum-99 (moly-99), a medical isotope that is used in more than 30 different diagnostic imaging procedures. Each day in the United States alone, more than 50,000 diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures take place that rely on moly-99, creating a $500 million annual world-wide market.
“The medically important isotope, moly-99, is crucial to the successful diagnosis of cancer and heart disease throughout the world,” said Dr. Richard Steeves, M.D., Ph.D., professor emeritus of human oncology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “With moly-99, physicians can determine the extent to which heart disease or cancer has spread, information which is critical to successful treatment.”
“We are very excited to call Janesville home and to become part of the community as an employer and corporate citizen,” said Greg Piefer, Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer of SHINE. “As a company that grew in partnership with research conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Morgridge Institute for Research, one of our primary goals was to stay in-state and take advantage of the dedicated, talented workforce available here. The city leaders of Janesville worked closely with us to ensure that we brought our plant and its potential high-paying jobs into this community.” SHINE invites the Janesville community to learn about its plans at an open house at the Janesville Rotary Botanical Gardens 5p-7p Tuesday February 7TH.
SHINE uses a proprietary manufacturing process and technology developed by Piefer, which includes technology earlier pioneered by Paul DeLuca, Ph.D., a medical physics researcher and current provost at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The new method offers major advantages over existing production technologies as it does not use highly enriched uranium, does not require a nuclear reactor, and uses a “greener”, safer method for production that is compatible with the nation’s existing supply chain.
Moly-99 is primarily used for detecting heart disease and determining the stage of cancer progression. In the case of breast cancer, for example, moly-99 is used to determine where the cancer has spread, information critical to enabling the most effective treatment. Historically, most moly-99 used in the United States has been produced in Canada and the Netherlands using highly enriched uranium placed in high power research reactors. Both the Canadian and Netherlands reactors are operating beyond their originally licensed life and unscheduled shutdowns of the reactors in 2009 and 2010 caused worldwide shortages of moly-99 leading to the delay or cancellation of millions of medical procedures.
SHINE’s manufacturing process and technology uses a particle accelerator that generates hundreds of times less waste than any current moly-99 production process. SHINE’s Janesville plant will produce enough moly-99 isotope for approximately 10 million diagnostic and treatment procedures each year, representing approximately one-half of the U.S. need for moly-99.
“It is exciting to welcome SHINE to the Janesville community not only for the jobs being created, but because it represents a new economy business built on research and innovation,” said Eric Levitt, Janesville city manager. “We have conducted extensive planning and research with SHINE and are confident theirs is a safe, cutting-edge technology that will create local jobs and showcase successful pharmaceutical research, development and production in Wisconsin.” The Janesville City Council is scheduled to vote on the SHINE Development Agreement in February.
Earlier this year, SHINE secured $11 million in venture equity funding for further development of the underlying technology. SHINE has worked with the private, nonprofit Morgridge Institute for Research and other public and private collaborators and funders, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory.
“SHINE Medical Technologies is a great example of how university research can lead to business growth, job creation and far-reaching benefits for human health,” said Sangtae “Sang” Kim, executive director of the Morgridge Institute for Research. “Greg Piefer and his team have done an incredible job building on work by UW–Madison Provost Paul DeLuca to advance his early research into a technology that will improve the quality of care for patients nationwide. We’re particularly proud to see our partnership with SHINE result in more high-paying jobs for Wisconsin.”
About SHINE Medical Technologies
Founded in 2010 to pursue opportunities presented by its novel technology, SHINE Medical Technologies is based on inventions co-licensed with Phoenix Nuclear Labs. With its laboratory in the Middleton Business Park just west of Madison, SHINE received initial support from Wisconsin Investment Partners, individual angel investors and the Morgridge Institute for Research. For more information, visit: www.shinemed.com.
