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NRG News: Farmaceutical industry stresses importance High Flux Reactor (HFR) 
ARPES (Brussel), the organisation of companies manufacturing and/or distributing
radiopharmaceuticals, in a letter to Minister Pronk stresses the fact that
the High Flux Reactor in Petten is indispensable.
ARPES represents 98% of the nuclear medicine line of business in Europe.
The radiopharmaceuticals are applied for diagnostic purposes, pain
relief and treatment of tumors. Per year about seven million patients are
treated with medicines from Petten.
A specific characteristic of radiopharmaceuticals is the short decay time
of the materials. Therefore it is not possible to have large quantities in stock;
efficient logistics are a crucial element in the timely supply of high-quality medicines.
Since the start of production in 1978, Petten has built an excellent reputation
because of the high availability of the reactor, good co-operation with
the pharmaceutical sectors, excellent staff and an efficient logistic network.
The importance of the HFR for medical applications in Europa has
been described fully in a report (*) by the European Union,
recently published. According to this report the research reactor
plays a major role in the developement of new medical techniques.
Especially the developement of a braintumor treatment, the BNCT-therapy,
should be mentioned.
With respect to this, professor Ch. Fallais of the faculty of Medicine of the
of the universities of Luik and Brussels may be quoted (translation):
"The contribution of the HFR to nuclear medicine in Europa is essential,
if not indispensable, especially when considering that European reactors
are becoming less available and some of them have been decommissioned."
The report (*) concludes that the HFR is indispensable because of
the unique combination of technology, science and logistics -
for the many millions of patients in Europe.
(*)"The place of the HFR reactor (High Flux Reactor) in European
R&D and Medical Radio-Isotopes Production", published by
EU, Prof.Dr. Kjems e.a., Brussels, 1999.
For more information: call NRG, Monique Bekkenutte, 0224-564967.
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