INER, AEC owns the only one compact cyclotron (30MeV) in Taiwan. It is able to produce radiopharmaceuticals, such as “INER Tl-201 injection” and “INER Ga-67 injection” as diagnostic cardiovascular disease and malignant tumor imaging agents. They are provided to domestic research institutes and hospitals for clinical trials and medical diagnosis. At present, short-half-life radiopharmaceuticals in Taiwan mainly rely on foreign imports. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the international flights became unstable and resulted in the shortage of imported drugs since 2020. At this moment, INER working as a local drug manufacturer, immediately puts into drug production and solves the shortage of domestic thallium chloride[Tl-201] and gallium citrate[Ga-67] demand in time. The cyclotron provided radio-isotopes to Radiopharmaceutical Production Center and produced about 421,900 mCi from April 20, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2022 and provided about 167,400 services including 75,500 services in 2022. The market share of INER Tl-201 injection increased from 17% in 2020 to 47% in 2022. Due to the 30% increasing within two years, INER has stabilized the supplying of Tl-201 injection in Taiwan.
INER compact cyclotron started operations in 1993. Up to 2022, it has been over 29 years. In response to the rising demand for nuclear medicine in Taiwan, INER has strengthened its operation and maintenance management, and also strived funds from Executive Yuan, R.O.C. (Taiwan) for building up a new 70MeV cyclotron, which will be completed in 2026. The new cyclotron is mainly used for the new nuclear medicine R&D and also for the supplying stability of local short half-life radiopharmaceuticals. In addition, it will be used for the measurement of space component radio-tolerance, development of proton and neutron material applications, and looking forward to enhancing domestic industries R&D capabilities and global competitiveness of Taiwan.
