QSA Global, a provider of radioisotope products, and Niowave, a Michigan-based producer of medical radioisotopes, announced that the companies will codevelop a scalable radium purification process using Niowave’s radium-226 processing technology to meet the demand for actinium-225, an alpha-emitter used in the treatment of cancer. According to the companies, the strategic partnership marks a significant advancement in the field of radiopharmaceutical technology, enhancing the supply chain for critical radioisotopes, including Ac-225.

Niowave uses a closed-loop cycle to produce high-purity Ac-225 and other alpha emitters from Ra-226 using a superconducting electron linear accelerator. According to the company’s website, the electron beam impinges on a photon converter to irradiate the Ra-226, inducing a photon-neutron reaction to Ra-225, which decays to Ac-225.

The Department of Energy Isotope Program and QSA Global, a Burlington, Mass.–based manufacturer of sealed radioisotope sources, agreed to a joint product development project to initiate domestic production of iridium-192, which is used in industrial gamma ray radiography.