The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Dr Blade Nzimande, will on Friday, 9 June 2023, launch the South African Isotope Facility (SAIF), a facility supported and funded by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI).

The SAIF, managed by the Department's entity, the National Research Foundation, is a flagship programme at iThemba LABS in Cape Town. “The facility will conduct advanced research and training capacity as well as increase the production capacity for radioisotopes, including new-generation novel radioisotopes.  In addition, the SAIF has acquired a dedicated cyclotron with associated infrastructure for the production of radioisotopes, thus freeing the existing separated sector cyclotron for full-time research and training,” said the Minister. 

Radioisotope therapy is used in treating cancer.  The radioisotopes target cancerous cells while causing minimal damage to surrounding healthy cells.

The unstable nucleus of a radioisotope can occur naturally, or as a result of artificially altering the atom. In some cases a nuclear reactor is used to produce radioisotopes, in others, a cyclotron. Nuclear reactors are best-suited to producing neutron-rich radioisotopes, such as molybdenum-99, while cyclotrons are best-suited to producing proton-rich radioisotopes, such as fluorine-18.

The best known example of a naturally-occurring radioisotope is uranium. All but 0.7 per cent of naturally-occurring uranium is uranium-238; the rest is the less stable, or more radioactive, uranium-235, which has three fewer neutrons in its nucleus.

IThemba LABS has been producing radioisotopes for both the local and international nuclear medicine and research fraternity for more than 30 years.  It is one of only a few places in South Africa where the complete manufacturing process to produce medicine takes place. It includes production facilities, chemical processing, quality assurance and control, filling and packaging under sterile conditions, and end-to-end logistics, marketing and sales.

IThemba LABS supplies certain medical isotopes for South African nuclear medicine clinics which cannot be supplied by anyone else or even imported at the moment. Currently about 5 000 South African patients a year benefit from the supply, and it is expected that these numbers could increase by a factor of 5 to 7 with the increase in production capacity through the SAIF and the availability of a new cohort of isotopes.