Uranium and thorium are long-lived (long "half life"), naturally occurring radioactive elements that decay into a series of different elements through the successive loss of alpha or beta particles. Certain elements in or derived from the uranium and thorium decay chains have short half-lives and emit alpha particles. These alpha emitting isotopes are currently being studied by major pharmaceutical companies developing therapies to treat cancer on a cellular level, while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue. However, existing domestic and global isotopes are in short supply, and existing methods of production are costly and currently unable to scale-up to meet widespread demand as new drugs are developed and approved in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. These are major roadblocks in the research and development of new TAT drugs, as pharmaceutical companies wait for scalable and affordable production technologies to become available.
Energy
Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) ("Energy Fuels" or the
"Company") is announced the execution of a Strategic Alliance
Agreement ("Alliance") with RadTran, LLC ("RadTran") to
evaluate the recovery of thorium, and potentially radium, from the Company's
existing rare earth carbonate ("RE Carbonate") and uranium process
streams for use in the production of medical isotopes for emerging targeted
alpha therapy ("TAT") cancer therapeutics. This initiative will
complement the Company's existing uranium and RE Carbonate businesses, as it
will investigate the recovery of isotopes in existing process streams at Energy
Fuels' White Mesa Mill in Utah (the "Mill") for medical purposes.
RadTran is a Denver, Colorado-based technology development company focused on
closing critical gaps in the procurement of medical isotopes for these
applications.
The
Mill is the only licensed and operating conventional uranium mill in the U.S.,
and it recently began production of RE Carbonate from natural monazite sands.
Monazite sands, natural uranium ores, and certain other feed sources for the
Mill contain thorium-232 ("Th-232") and radium-226
("Ra-226"), which would normally be disposed of permanently in the
Mill's tailings impoundments following processing for uranium and RE Carbonate
recovery. As an initial step in this medical isotope initiative, Energy Fuels
and RadTran will evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of recovering
Th-232, and potentially Ra-226, from the Mill's natural monazite and other
existing feeds, subject to receipt of any required licenses, permits and
regulatory approvals. These isotopes are a necessary precursor to the specific
medical isotopes needed by pharmaceutical companies for their emerging TAT
cancer therapeutics, making this initiative the potential beginning of an
important new domestic medical supply chain.
If
this initial step is feasible, and subject to receipt of any required licenses,
permits and regulatory approvals, Energy Fuels and RadTran will then evaluate
the feasibility of recovering radium-228 ("Ra-228") from the Th-232
and thorium-228 ("Th-228") from the Ra-228 at the Mill using RadTran
technologies, with the backing of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
("PNNL") in Richland, Washington. The recovered Ra-228, Th-228, and
potentially Ra-226, would then be sold to pharmaceutical companies and others
to produce the short-lived isotopes which are the leading medically attractive
TAT isotopes for the treatment of cancer, including lead-212
("Pb-212"), actinium-225 ("Ac-225"), bismuth-213 ("Bi-213"),
radium-224 ("Ra-224"), and radium-223 ("Ra-223").
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Source: ENERGY FUELS