Lok Sabha Question No. 3661 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-17
Subject: Nuclear Medicines
Ministry: ATOMIC ENERGY
Asked by: Navneet Ravi Rana

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3661

TO BE ANSWERED ON 17.03.2021

## NUCLEAR MEDICINES

## 3661.    SHRIMATI NAVNEET RAVI RANA:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) the  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  share  the  technology  of production of a variety of nuclear medicines;
- (b) the measures taken by the Government for production of medical isotopes as a part of Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives for the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE); and
- (c) the efforts made/to be made by the Government to make India self-reliant in key radio isotopes used in medical and industrial applications?

## ANSWER

THE  MINISTER  OF  STATE  FOR  PERSONNEL,  PUBLIC  GRIEVANCES  & PENSIONS AND PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (Dr. JITENDRA SINGH):

- (a) Board  of  Radiation  and  Isotope  Technology  (BRIT),  an  industrial  unit  of Department  of  Atomic  Energy  (DAE),  plans  of  sharing  one  of  its  facilities partially with private agencies for the weekly production of 'Column Chromatography Generator Production'.

The  Technology  for  the  Production  of  important  radiopharmaceuticals,  like 18F-FDB for various cancer imaging and 18F-NaF for bone cancer imaging is available through Technology Transfer.

- (b) As a part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat the following initiatives have been taken by DAE:
- (i) The  30  MeV  Medical  Cyclotron  at  Variable  Energy  Cyclotron  Centre (VECC),  Kolkata  is  operational  and  carrying  out  regular  commercial production  and  delivery  of  radiopharmaceuticals  like,  FDG  ( 18 F)  and Sodium  Fluoride  ( 18 F-NaF)  by  BRIT.  The  production  of  Gallium-68 ( 68 Ga), Gallium-67 ( 67 Ga), Thallium-201 ( 201 Tl) based radiopharmaceuticals have also been done at Medical Cyclotron Facility of  VECC,  Kolkata.    The 67 Ga  and 201 Tl  based  radiopharmaceuticals, were hitherto imported.

- (ii) BRIT  has  taken  up  two  projects  viz.  Advanced  Facility  for  Radio Pharmaceuticals Production (AFRP) and Fission Moly Project (FMP) for production  of  medical  isotopes  in  large  scale.  Under  AFRP  project, BRIT is augmenting I-131 capsule production and I-131 MIBG production for diagnostic & therapeutic application for cancer treatment. In  addition,  the  project  is  also  contributing  for  GMP  compliance  of various facilities. FMP project has the capacity to produce 300 Ci/week (6day pre-calibrated) HSA Mo99 (High Specific activity) as API (Active Pharmaceutical  Ingredient)  for  the  large-scale  production  of  Mo99Tc99m Column chromatography Generator. Presently HSA Mo99 is an import dependent API.
- (c) The efforts  made by the Government to make India self-reliant are as under:

A research reactor dedicated to medical isotope production is envisaged to  be  executed  under  Public  Private  Partnership.  In  this  partnership, Government  through  the  Department  of  Atomic  Energy,  plans  to  extend support to the investors for processing and production of radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals both for diagnosis and therapy of cancer as well as functional evaluation of organs.

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