Cardinal Health, Shine Technologies amp up domestic production of radiopharmaceuticals

As demand for radiopharmaceuticals and nuclear medicine increases, US-based producers are aiming to meet the moment.

Radiopharmaceuticals are radioactive treatments that can diagnose and treat cancer. One of the US’s largest manufacturers, Cardinal Health, announced today that it’s expanding its production of actinium-225, a radionuclide used for cancer treatment, at a facility in Indianapolis, Indiana. The news comes on the heels of last week’s announcement from Shine Technologies—one of Cardinal’s suppliers—that it is now exporting its own medical isotope, lutetium-177, from its production site in Wisconsin to China though Chinese radiopharmaceutical company C-Ray.

The US typically relies on overseas reactors for critical radiopharmaceuticals, something that the Trump administration has expressed a desire to change. In press releases for both announcements, Cardinal Health and Shine underscored the impact their latest advancements will have on the US radiopharmaceutical supply chain and increasing demand.

“Expanding our Ac-225 production capacity is a critical step forward for the industry and for patients,” Cardinal Health’s VP of radiopharmaceutical manufacturing, Shane Thrasher, said in a release. “This expanded capacity strengthens our ability to meet customer needs today while preparing for significantly larger commercial volumes that may occur in the coming years.”

Mike Pintek, Cardinal Health’s president of nuclear and precision health solutions, echoed a similar sentiment in an interview with Morning Brew last year.

“The industry believes, especially in the US and North America, that having domestic production would be a benefit,” Pintek said. “And that aligns even with the administration’s goals of having more production in the US, as opposed to distributed worldwide.”

Cardinal Health foreshadowed the move in recent earnings calls: Last August, CEO Jason Hollar said Cardinal Health was “increasing US manufacturing capacity,” and in October, he told investors that the company was “expanding production of key radio diagnostics for the detection of cancer, coronary artery disease, and Alzheimer’s.”

As Shine CEO Greg Piefer told Morning Brew last year, making the US the nucleus of radiopharmaceutical manufacturing wouldn’t just be bringing production stateside—it would also return it to where it started. As it stands, a medical isotope used in most procedures that rely on nuclear medicine is produced outside the US.

“We invented these technologies in the United States,” Piefer said. “It’ll return production leadership to the United States. But more importantly, it’ll prevent shortages in the United States, and, frankly, all of the West.”