The future of SHINE Medical Technologies includes a production plant in Europe and a new therapeutic branch, according to the company’s founder and CEO.

With a dwindling global supply chain for Mo-99 — an isotope that’s used to diagnose heart disease and treat cancer — SHINE plans to to construct another plant in Europe in addition to its current construction project in Janesville.

“The current supply chain sucks,” said Greg Piefer, founder and CEO of SHINE Medical Technologies at a recent Wisconsin Technology Council luncheon in Madison. “The patient is not being denied a test — they’re being given ultrasound or some other alternative test that’s less effective — and so they don’t really know they’re being mistreated in a way if there’s a shortage.”

The last producer of Mo-99 in the Western hemisphere stopped making the isotopes in 2016 and has since shut permanently. According to Piefer, that means “one million people going to the hospital with chest pain who aren’t getting the right tests.”

Europe is the second-largest market in the world for Mo-99 and the largest producer in the world today, but it’s expected to exit the market in 2025.

“It’s run by the Dutch government, and they want to get out of it,” explained Piefer. “We need to make sure those patients are taken care of, so we have an aggressive plan to not only sell to Europe, but to build a second plant there as well.”

SHINE has already established an office in Europe. Read the full story here.