By Tom Still
BELOIT, Wis. – The economy in Rock County is already known for manufacturing, farming and food producers, a large Amazon fulfillment center and the headquarters for ABC Supply Inc., North America’s largest wholesale distributor of roofing and other exterior building products.
But how about a global hub for the main atomic isotopes that power nuclear medicine?
“Fifty years from now, this will be the isotope capital of the world,” predicted Greg Piefer, the founder and chief executive officer for Janesville’s SHINE Technologies, which is producing isotopes such as lutetium-177. When paired with a cancer-seeking molecule, Lu-177 can deliver highly targeted radiation to cancerous cells – killing the cancer without destroying healthy cells.
A few miles down the road in Beloit, NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes has also created domestic isotope sources such as actinium-225 and copper-67, core to other therapies. Led by Dr. Frank Scholz, NorthStar is also working to hasten the day when nuclear medicine leads the fight to treat many types of cancers as well as serious infections.
Both executives spoke Sept. 17 at a forum hosted by NorthStar and featuring scientists from the “Mars Shot,” a philanthropic group tied to the 70-year-old Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.
Some definitions are in order: An isotope is a version of a chemical element where the atom has the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons, which alters atomic mass. So-called “unstable” isotopes are the radioactive variety and have a short shelf-life but useful in many ways, including medicine.
What does Mars have to do with it? Nothing, really, other than Society leaders think the nuclear medicine challenge is on a par with landing people on Mars.
Piefer’s 50-year forecast seems a long way off, but progress shown by SHINE and NorthStar means the future is here in the sense that isotopes produced by both companies are already treating patients with cancer. With 750 clinical trials underway worldwide, SHINE and NorthStar isotopes are part of many.
Nuclear medicine is “one of the primary front-line weapons to fight cancer,” Piefer said, because they “personalize” treatments that are otherwise one-size-fits-all. He encouraged an audience of about 50 people to think of nuclear medicine therapies as “smart bombs” versus “napalm” for cancer.
NorthStar’s Scholz shared Piefer’s enthusiasm for nuclear medicine, noting double-digit growth at his company due to growing demand for a targeted approach. “Everything we do is about patients,” he said.
Are SHINE and NorthStar competing? Not in a conventional way, Piefer and Scholz agreed, because the challenges are big enough to involve both companies as they continue to seek funding and scientific traction through sources such as Mars Shot.
That brings us back to Rock County and southern Wisconsin. Others with skin in the game include the UW-Madison, which recently signed a service agreement with NorthStar; the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation; and other regional players in business and academia.
Because radioactive isotopes typically begin to decay after a week or so, it’s important to get them quickly to markets where they are needed. Airports in the region include Madison, Janesville and Rockford, Ill., and the interstate can bring products to Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports within two hours.
Two state legislators who attended the forum, Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, and Rep. Brienne Brown, D-Whitewater, also touted the region’s ability to expand housing options for potential workers in the field and the possibility of high-speed trains to move products and people.
Business executive and Stage 4 cancer survivor Leslie Ferris Yerger brought home the core purpose of the forum when she described her experience, which started with a faulty diagnosis in 2017 and targeted treatments that ultimately turned her life around.
“What you guys are doing is so important,” Yerger told a panel of nuclear medicine experts. No arguments there.
Still is president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. tstill@wisconsintechnologycouncil.com.