Update on delivery from US of Technetium-99m (Tc-99m) Generators

4th July, 2018

This morning ANSTO has been advised that a plane delivering a second wave of generators to Australia has been held up in the United States due to mechanical issues.  

The likely updated delivery time is now 6am on Thursday 5 July, and if there are no further delays, this means the generators will be delivered to customers on Friday.

ANSTO appreciates this airline delay will make things challenging for our customers, and will seek to keep everyone up to date on the progress of the delivery.

ANSTO would like to thank our customers, GMS and LMI for their ongoing support while we work to restore the normal supply chain for Australian nuclear medicine.

Background:

Last weekend, Australia received 66 Technetium-99m (Tc-99m) generators from Lantheus Medical Imaging Inc. (LMI) in the United States.

They were distributed on Monday to 24 hospitals in metropolitan areas, 12 regional and rural medical facilities and 5 Global Medical Solutions Australia (GMS) sites across Australia.

This equates to just over 39 per cent of normal weekly supply, and was to be followed by another 60 generators that remain en route to Australia from the US.

In addition, another batch of generators was produced in the US yesterday, and are scheduled for delivery to customers in Australia on Monday next week.

In the meantime, engineers are continuing to work to rectify the mechanical fault that was identified with a piece of equipment called a transfer conveyer on Friday 22 June.

ANSTO’s normal production of generators remains temporarily suspended, and while this will be restored as soon as possible, it is expected to take some weeks.

This mechanical fault has not affected other nuclear medicine products from ANSTO, and has no impact on the operation of the OPAL nuclear reactor.

For more information, please contact your ANSTO customer relations representative on 1800 251 572 or [email protected]