At 13:48 on April 20, after two years of core irradiation, the first carbon-14 target was successfully removed from the Qinshan Nuclear Power Heavy Water Reactor Unit of China Nuclear Power Investment Holdings under the China Nuclear Power Group. This was the first time that China mass-produced carbon-14 isotopes, solving the problem that domestic carbon-14 isotopes are dependent on imports, and fully localizing carbon-14 supply.
Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon and is widely used as a tracer. Helicobacter pylori testing is its most representative use. In addition, fields such as pharmacokinetic research and beta-ray environmental monitoring systems also require carbon-14.
Previously, almost all of China's carbon-14 supply depended on imports. It was expensive and supply was not guaranteed. This has become a limiting factor for the development of downstream industries.
According to FortuneBusinessInsights, the global nuclear drug market is expected to increase from 8.4 billion US dollars in 2023 to 29.4 billion US dollars in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 20%, while the compound annual growth rate of the market in 2019-2023 is only 11%.
According to CITIC Construction Investment Securities research, due to the late development of nuclear technology, China mostly relies on imports for medical isotopes. Companies involved in the midstream layout of the nuclear drug industry chain are involved in all aspects of R&D, production and distribution of nuclide drugs.
Since radionuclides are radioactive and have characteristics such as specific half-lives, radiation decomposition, and instability that are different from other drugs, there are extremely high requirements for logistics distribution and radiopharmaceutical rooms.
Hong Kong Stock Related Companies for Nuclear Drugs:
China Tongshi (01763): A leading enterprise in China's nuclear medicine industry. Its radiopharmaceuticals business dominates the Chinese market, such as radiopharmaceuticals for imaging diagnosis and treatment. It is also the largest product manufacturer and supplier in the Chinese radiological source product market. It is the only domestic supplier of radiation source products such as cobalt [60Co] for irradiation and medical cobalt [60Co]. In October 2023, the new double helix tomography platform was officially mass-produced, filling the gap in localized production in the domestic high-end radiotherapy product market, marking a new situation for precise tumor treatment in China, and pioneering the independent production of a new type of intelligent double-helix tomography equipment in China.
Yuanda Pharmaceuticals (00512): In 2023, Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: TLX), an important strategic partner in the field of radionuclide conjugated drugs (RDC), submitted a biological product marketing license application (BLA) for TLx250-cdx, a globally innovative RDC drug used to diagnose renal clear cell carcinoma (cCRCC) to the US FDA. TLx250-cdx is a globally innovative RDC drug for the diagnosis of cCRCC. It targets carbonic anhydrase IX (CA9), which is overexpressed in ccRCC and many other cancers.