Positron Corporation

Positron Corporation

Type	Public
Traded as	OTC Pink: POSC
Industry	Nuclear Medicine
Founded	(1983 (1983))
Headquarters	Westmont, Illinois, U.S.A
Products	Nuclear medical imaging devices
Subsidiaries	Positron Isotopes Corporation Manhattan Isotope Technology
Website	www.positron.com www.posirx.com

Positron Corporation is an American nuclear medicine healthcare company specializing in cardiac Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging.^[1][2] Positron operates in a variety of business areas combining cardiac PET imaging technology, radiopharmaceuticals and radioisotopes.^[3] Positron is headquartered in Westmont, Illinois and holds three facilities: a radioisotope manufacturing facility in Lubbock, Texas, a clinical and technical cardiovascular PET training institute in Niagara Falls, New York and an automation manufacturing facility in Fishers, Indiana.^[4][5]

The company's products and services enable healthcare providers to diagnose cardiac disease and improve patient outcomes.^[4][6] Positron Corporation is a public company and traded on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc.'s OTC Bulletin Board under the ticker symbol POSC.^[5][7]

History

Positron was originally founded in 1983 as a research and development company.^[8][9] The company expanded from a medical imaging device manufacturer to a nuclear healthcare company integrating the key components of the cardiac PET supply chain.^[8] Positron's strategy focuses on stabilizing and securing the Sr-82 supply chain.^[10]

In January 2012, Positron acquired Manhattan Isotope Technology.^[9] This subsidiary focuses on increasing Sr-82 supply by processing proton irradiated target material, recycling Sr-82 from spent generators, and through its pursuit of procuring a 70 MeV cyclotron.^[4][5][11]

Company development

After its founding in 1983, Positron debuted a new time-of-flight tomograph called the POSICAM.^[12] Posicam used barium fluoride for the scintillation detector and was primarily used by researchers interested in cardiac imaging.^[12] In 1985, the FDA approved the POSICAM system for marketing and the following year, Positron began commercial operations.^[10] The FDA later gave approval to Positron to begin marketing its HZ PET imaging system in 1991.^[10] Positron received patents for aspects of its HZ and HZL POSICAM systems in 1993 along with FDA approval to market HZL.^[13]

In 2005, Positron entered into a joint venture contract with Neusoft Medical Systems Co., Inc. of Shenyang, China for a jointly owned company to pursue the manufacturing of PET imaging equipment called Neusoft Positron Medical Systems Co. Ltd.^[3][13] The following year, Positron acquired a manufacturer/developer of nuclear imaging devices called IS2 Medical Systems, Inc. based in Ontario, Canada.^[14] Positron acquired DoseShield Corporation, a developer and manufacturer of automated radiopharmaceutical technology/systems in 2008.^[15] In 2009, Positron and its partner Neusoft Medical Systems received FDA approval to sell and distribute their Attrius PET system.^[16][17]

Positron acquired Manhattan Isotope Technology (MIT), a processor and manufacturer of radioisotopes based in Lubbock, TX, in 2012.^[4][5][18] In 2013, Positron entered into a supply agreement with iThemba Labs for radioisotopes,^[19] and later the same year, Positron entered into a licensing agreement for radiostrontium production technology with INR.^[20]

Attrius

The Attrius is Positron's main cardiac PET system that the company provides in nuclear medicine that was launched in 2010.^[3] The system uses software to monitor coronary artery overlay display and open architecture for new protocol development and customization and motion correction.^[21][22] Other products include PosiRx, a system that simplifies and controls the procedures associated with the preparation and delivery of radiopharmaceuticals used in molecular imaging and PosiStar, Positron's customer care plan for Attrius.^[5]

70 MeV Cyclotron Project

In April 2013, Positron's subsidiary, Positron Isotopes Corporation, began planning to build and operate the world’s first, high-energy/high-current, commercial 70 MeV cyclotron.^[4][5] The cyclotron project enables Positron to be the only entity in the United States, other than the U.S. Department of Energy to supply certain isotopes critical to cardiac PET imaging.^[4][5]

The company produces active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) grade Sr-82 at its Lubbock, Texas, facility from strontium received from foreign irradiated source suppliers.^[4][5] Positron supplements strontium resources through supply agreements with all domestic and foreign irradiated source suppliers, requesting increases in production schedules from third party suppliers, and by recycling expired generators.^[9]

Awards

• Positron Corporation is the winner of the 2010 North American Molecular Imagine Systems New Product Innovation Award given by the research firm Frost & Sullivan.^[5]
• In 2012, the Federal Laboratory Consortium awarded Positron subsidiary Manhattan Isotope Technology (MIT) an Excellence in Energy Transfer award.^[23]

See also

• Radiopharmacology
• Radiation therapy

References

Further reading

• "Nuclear medicine market could climb to $8.05B by 2020"