Produce more
Radioisotopes in
a Cost-Effective way

  IBA leverages 35 years of experience and innovation in the new Cyclone® IKON with enhanced availability of theranostic radiopharmaceuticals and reduced radiopharmacy footprint   Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium,  10 June 2021 -  IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A., EURONEXT), the world's leading provider of solutions for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, today launches its new high energy and high-capacity cyclotron, the Cyclone® IKON, which offers the largest energy spectrum for PET and SPECT isotopes from 13 MeV to 30 MeV. The Cyclone® IKON was showcased during a virtual live event and the replay can be watched here. Currently, there are still a large number of patients for whom cancer treatment fails, despite major scientific advances. Nuclear medicine is emerging as a relevant modality to address this gap by extending overall survival and quality of life for cancer patients. Theranostics and targeted therapies allow the administration of radiation directly to the targeted cells, with minimal toxic side effects to surrounding healthy cells, unlike traditional modalities. The growing number of clinical trials (200+) and ongoing increase of new radiotherapeutic molecule developments support the great potential of radioligand therapy.   “To enable this revolution, we must enhance the availability of novel isotopes and boost their production capacity. In its role, the cyclotron must be a reliable and sustainable production source of isotopes for the radiopharmaceutical industry and this is particularly the case for Germanium-68 (used for Germanium-68/Gallium-68 generators), Iodine-123 and other radioisotopes such as Copper-64, for which the demand has been consistently expanding year after year.” Bruno Scutnaire, Vice-President of IBA's RadioPharma Solutions Division commented. To address these new market needs, IBA has redesigned its previous model, Cyclone® 30 MeV, and created a next generation system, the Cyclone® IKON. It is more compact and versatile than ever and is capable of working over a large energy span (13 to 30MeV) with full current capacity to enable the large-scale and high-purity production of emerging PET, SPECT and “parent” isotopes.  The first two units of the Cyclone® IKON have already been acquired by two leading companies in radiopharmaceuticals production: The Institute of Radioelements (IRE) in Belgium and Curium Pharma in St Louis, USA. Commissioning is scheduled for 2023. Renaud Dehareng, CEO of Curium Pharma said: “IBA has been a trusted partner of Curium for a long time. We selected IBA for its globally recognized expertise and due to the outstanding capabilities and reliability of the Cyclotron.” We selected IBA because of the reliability of its equipment. It has the most compact and efficient high energy cyclotron on the market." said Erich Kollegger, CEO of IRE.    

Despite some challenges due to the covid situation, the installation of the Cyclone®70 at AZ Isotopes in Indiana is progressing well! After a rigging in August, the commissioning is progressing well with beam extraction up to target position. Shortly the IBA Germanium and Iodine target/chemistry systems will be added on that machine to provide an effective oncology solution for US market. Congratulations to the whole team involved in this project! 

Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium, 20 May 2021 - IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A., EURONEXT), the world’s leading provider of proton therapy solutions for the treatment of cancer, today announces its business update for the first quarter ending 31 March 2021. Group Overview ▪ Strong balance sheet maintained, with EUR 152 million unaudited gross cash (31 Dec 2020: EUR 151.3 million) and EUR 72.6 million unaudited net cash (31 Dec 2020: EUR 65.2 million) ▪ Business operations have remained solid into the first quarter of 2021, albeit with some continuing impact from COVID-19 related installation delays in Proton Therapy alongside some Other Accelerator delays ▪ Continued focus on sustainable growth and profitability, delivering the very best offering and services to our customers, whilst remaining committed to corporate responsibility ▪ As part of a long-term employee incentive plan, IBA’s share buyback program was launched in January 2021 and is almost complete Olivier Legrain, Chief Executive Officer of IBA commented: “I have been pleased to see IBA’s continued resilience in the first quarter of 2021, with growing momentum in Proton Therapy in the US, continued success in Asia and strong performance in our Dosimetry and Other Accelerators businesses.” “Our roadmap to sustainable growth and profitability is clear: capitalize on our market leading position globally, invest for strategic impact and deliver operational execution. This focus will be reinforced by our continuing commitment to our customers, our employees and to the planet and I am proud of the groundwork we are laying as a company towards a true stakeholder approach to our business.”

Two IBA Rhodotron®TT 300-HE (High Energy) electron beam accelerators were rigged in Beloit, Wisconsin. The accelerators are critical components in a first-of-its-kind commercial-scale process to produce Mo-99, the parent radioisotope of technetium-99m, the most widely used medical imaging radioisotope, informing healthcare decisions for approximately 40,000 U.S. patients daily. We are proud to be part of this project !