Nordion

Nordion Inc. is a health science company that provides products used for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease. The company supplies sterilization technologies and medical isotopes to customers in more than 40 countries around the world.^[3]

Nordion is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with facilities in Vancouver, British Columbia and Laval, Quebec. Steve West is the company's CEO. It was acquired by Sterigenics International in 2014 for 805 million USD.^[4]

History

Founded in 1946,^[5] originally the radium sales department of Eldorado Mining and Refining Ltd., the division developed one of the first teletherapy units that used the radioisotope cobalt-60 to destroy cancerous tumours.

Soon after, the division was given responsibility for selling radioisotopes produced by the newly established nuclear research facility at Chalk River, Ontario. As a result, in 1951, Eldorado established a commercial products division (CPD) to manage the isotope business, especially cobalt-60 used in cancer treatment.

In 1952, the federal government created Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), a Crown corporation. Shortly thereafter, CPD was transferred to AECL, where it remained for the next 40 years and was renamed the radio-chemical division.

In 1988, ownership of the radio-chemical division was transferred from AECL to the Canadian Development Investment Corporation (CDIC). The company assumed a new name, Nordion International Inc. and was later sold to MDS Health Group in 1991.

In 2010, MDS Inc. completed a strategic repositioning which saw the Company divest its MDS Analytical Technologies and MDS Pharma Services businesses. Also in 2010, shareholders of MDS Inc. approved a change of name from MDS Inc. to Nordion Inc. The Company officially changed its name to Nordion Inc. on November 1, 2010.^[6]

In July 2013, Nordion completed the divestiture of its Targeted Therapies business to BTG plc.^[7] The company is now focused on Nordion and its sterilization technologies and medical isotopes businesses.

The company generated $244.8 million USD in revenues in the 2012 fiscal year, with over 70% of its revenue coming from within North America.^[3]

It was acquired by Sterigenics International in 2014 for 805 million USD.^[4] The company's press release stated that the acquisition created "the only vertically integrated sterilization company in the world."^[8]

Products

The company's products and services include:

Sterilization technologies

Customers use Nordion's gamma-sterilization technologies to sterilize medical surgical supplies and devices, as well as certain consumer products, such as food and cosmetics.

Nordion supplies cobalt-60,^[2] the isotope that produces the gamma radiation required to destroy harmful micro-organisms. The company also markets a family of production irradiators.

Medical isotopes

Nordion processes, packages and delivers medical isotopes used for diagnostic procedures and treatment of diseases including cardiac and neurological conditions and several types of cancer.

The company offers both reactor and cyclotron based isotopes, including molybdenum-99 used in the manufacture of technetium-99m generators. Technetium is the primary isotope used in millions of nuclear cardiology procedures every year.

Nordion also offers contract manufacturing services which can include medical isotopes for clinical trials or commercial development.

Locations

The Nordion corporate headquarters are located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The headquarters are the main manufacturing facilities for medical isotopes, used in medical imaging and radiopharmaceuticals, and for cobalt-60 sources and industrial food irradiators.

The Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, facility is located on the campus of the University of British Columbia. In collaboration with Tri-University Meson Facility (TRIUMF), Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, the facility processes medical isotopes and radiopharmaceuticals.

The Nordion Gamma Centre of Excellence (GCE) is a gamma irradiation research, training, and demonstration facility located in Laval, Quebec, Canada. The GCE is operated in partnership with the University of Quebec's Armand Frappier Institute.

Nordion has an Asia Pacific Sales Office in Hong Kong.

Awards and recognition

• Canada's Top 100 Employers, 2010 and 2011^[9]
• National Capital Region's Top 25 Employers, 2007-2013^[10]
• Ottawa Business Journal's Forty Under 40 Award^[11]
• Best Employer for New Canadians^[12]
• 2009 Ottawa Business Achievement – Company of the Year Silver Award^[11]
• Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation (CIPEC) Leadership Award^[11]
• ENERGY STAR Market Transformation Award^[11]
• Return on Environment Partnership Award^[11]

Community work

• Canadian Blood Services ^[13]
• Ottawa Food Bank ^[13]
• The Ottawa Hospital (Ride the Rideau and Gala for Research) ^[13]
• The University of Ottawa Heart Institute ^[13]
• Toy Mountain ^[13]

References and footnotes