![]() ![]() Operating 6.5 days a week, 52 weeks a year, scientists from across the campus use the 10-megawatt facility to not only provide crucial radioisotopes for clinical settings globally, but also to analyze artifacts, improve medical diagnostic tools and prevent illness. MURR has been a crucial component to research at the university for more than 50 years. We are pleased to have an opportunity to enter into a long-term supply agreement, and INIS plans to utilize MURR as one of our major suppliers for I-131 in the future.” for nearly 15 years using only foreign sources of supply. “INIS has been supplying I-131 throughout the U.S. for this important isotope,” said Steve Laflin, president and CEO of International Isotopes, Inc.(INIS). “Having MURR as a domestic producer for I-131 provides a much higher level of stability and reliability in the U.S. MURR is one of only a handful of research reactors around the world that supply I-131 to drug manufacturers who, in turn, supply radiopharmaceuticals for distribution to hospitals and patients. With only an eight-day half-life, stockpiling I-131 is impossible and logistics are complicated, making a reliable supplier critical for patients. Since the thyroid gland naturally absorbs iodine, I‑131 can be targeted directly to thyroid tumors to remove cancerous tissue and treat the disease. The isotope’s unique properties enable both diagnostic imaging and treatment of cancer and hyperthyroidism. I-131 sodium iodide became the first FDA-approved radiopharmaceutical in 1951 and is one of the most widely used radiopharmaceuticals in the United States. “Supplying I‑131 is part of a strategic initiative by the University of Missouri and MURR to address medical isotope shortages and further the University’s research mission,” said David Robertson, executive director of MURR. ![]() This milestone shipment makes MURR the only supplier of I‑131 in the United States and the first U.S. The University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) recently shipped its first batch of I-131. A domestic supply of Iodine-131 (I-131), a critical radioisotope widely used for diagnosing and treating thyroid cancer and hyperthyroidism, is vital due to increasing demand and the isotope’s short shelf-life. in 2018 with an estimated 2,060 deaths from the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute. There will be an estimated 53,990 new cases of thyroid cancer in the U.S. – According to the American Cancer Society, thyroid cancer is “ the most rapidly increasing cancer in the U.S.,” with diagnoses tripling in the last three decades. Story Contact: Austin Fitzgerald, 57, Mo. ![]()
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