Business news

MINSK, 4 February (BelTA) – Latvia and Lithuania have plans to buy radioactive isotopes for cancer diagnosis from Belarus, Oleg Sukonko, the director of the Alexandrov National Cancer Center of Belarus, told journalists on 4 February at a press conference held to mark World Cancer Day, BelTA has learned.

“We are currently in talks with Latvia and Lithuania over the possibility of supplying radioisotopes produced in our cyclotron in Borovlyany. The procedure is as follows: a reactor generates an isotope that lives for two hours. Later the packaging lab incorporates the isotope into a glucose molecule. Since all cancer cells nourish themselves with glucose, special equipment tracks the isotopes injected into a patient’s body and locates active cancer cells,” Oleg Sukonko explained.

According to him, Vilnius and Kaunas have long had devices for fixing short-lived isotopes. But they are not equipped to produce isotopes themselves. "They do not have a cyclotron to generate isotopes or a packaging lab. They buy isotopes in Germany and Poland at the price of about €1,000 per dose and deliver them by plane. A dose of the isotopes made in Belarus is €800. I think we will soon come to an arrangement with the Lithuanian and Latvian partners, including in terms of the price, and start cooperation,” said Oleg Sukonko.

He added that in the future the Belarusian cyclotron will be able to produce 8 kinds of isotopes. “The equipment in Belarus is unique, last generation. The quality of the isotopes is even better than in Poland or Germany. I believe that in this area we will be able to earn handsomely and develop beneficial cooperation with our neighbors,” Oleg Sukonko added.