Advanced Medical Isotope Corporation (ADMD:PK) – Answering the Calls for Help on a Key Medical Shortage
Approximately 15 years ago, I invested in 2 specific areas of medicine. The first in a California-based company which was one of the original companies involved in the manufacturing of radioactive sources for brachytherapy. The other was a PET (positron emission tomography) company. The California based company went from $0.50 per shares to $32.00. As you can imagine, I made a lot of money and made a few friends. Well, the PET company didn’t work out so well but I always thought there was a place for PET imaging in this world.
Advanced Medical Isotope Corporation (ADMD:PK), a publicly traded company on the Pink Sheets may allow me to relive my experience in making a lot of money in the brachytherapy market while allowing me to prove 15 years later I was right on PET.
Medical Isotopes are used in medicine in 3 different ways:
1. Isotopes are used as a tool in diagnostic imaging.
2. They are also used as a radioactive source to emit radiation into tumors to kill the cancerous tissue.
3. Radioactive isotopes can also be manufactured into drugs to target a certain treatment area.
In the United States alone, there are over 18 million procedures performed each year that use medical isotopes. That’s why I am shocked that the news out of Canada that the reactor that produces 80 percent of the isotopes for the Canadian market and 40% of the world market has garnered little attention from stock market investors. This followed the news of the world’s second largest isotope-producing reactor in the world also being shut down for maintenance reasons. The shutdowns are expected to exacerbate an already critical shortage of nuclear isotopes. There are only 3 other reactors in the world that can produce medical isotopes. In fact, no new reactors are scheduled to come online for the production of medical isotopes until the middle of the next decade.
Some are calling this a medical disaster. The medical isotopes used for nuclear imaging look at the disease at the cellular level and that’s why these medical diagnostic procedures have a significant impact on detecting the early spread of cancer.
Some medical experts are now calling for more PET imagers which creates a great opportunity for Advanced Medical Isotope Corporation (ADMD:PK). There has never been a doubt that PET imaging is a powerful diagnostic tool and that PET imaging procedures continue to grow at a double digit rate in the United States. The challenge for PET has always been two-fold. First, the cost of the procedure and second, the short half-life of the isotopes which requires that the cyclotron be in close proximity to the PET scanners. However, as one medical expert who wished not to names told us, “The shortage for medical isotopes in 2007 was bad. This shutdown is affecting medical care. We can’t wait for the What’s Next scenario. We need more PET scanners.
Advanced Medical Isotope Corporation (ADMD:PK) is perfect positioned to take advantage of the recent shortages. First, the company will manufacture brachytherapy seeds. Second, the company is now producing stable isotopes (Oxygen-18 (O-18), a rare and stable isotope target for making the PET isotope Flourine-180, for PET imaging. With only 50 million shares outstanding trading at $0.30, the company may just offer investors an opportunity to have a win like I had in 1995. This is a hidden gem.
