Nordion

Nordion Inc.

Type	Public
Traded as	TSX: NDN NYSE: NDZ
Industry	Specialized Health Services
Founded	1946
Headquarters	Ottawa, Canada
Key people	Steve West [1]
Employees	600 (2010) [2]
Website	http://www.nordion.com/

Nordion Inc. (TSX: NDN, NYSE: NDZ) is a global specialty health science company that provides products used for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease. The company supplies medical isotopes, targeted therapies and sterilization technologies to more than 60 countries around the world.

Nordion is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and generates about 60% of its revenue from within North America. Nordion generated $240 million USD in revenues in the 2010 fiscal year.

Steve West is the company's CEO.

History

Founding

Founded in 1946, originally the radium sales department of Eldorado Mining and Refining Ltd., Nordion 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.

In 1988, ownership 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.

Strategic Repositioning of MDS Inc.

In 2010, MDS Inc. completed a strategic repositioning which saw the Company divest its MDS Analytical Technologies and MDS Pharma Services businesses. The company is now focused on Nordion and its medical isotopes, targeted therapies and sterilization technologies 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.

Products

The company's products and services include:

Medical Isotopes

Nordion performs medical isotope processing, packaging, and delivery for diagnostic procedures relied upon by patients and medical professionals.

Nordion offers a breadth of 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.

Targeted Therapies

Nordion supplies targeted therapies for a variety of cancers, as well as services for radiopharmaceutical development, and clinical and commercial manufacturing.

Nordion's main targeted therapies product is TheraSphere®, which is used in the treatment of inoperable liver cancer. Nordion is also a contract manufacturer for Bexxar®, a radiotherapeutic and CardioGen-82™, a cardiovascular positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agent.

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 is the world's leading supplier of cobalt-60,^[3] the isotope that produces the gamma radiation required to destroy harmful micro-organisms. The company also markets a family of production irradiators.

Global locations

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

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.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

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, our facility processes medical isotopes and radiopharmaceuticals.

Laval, Quebec, Canada

The Canadian Irradiation Centre (CIC) is a globally-recognized gamma irradiation research, training, and demonstration facility located in Laval, Quebec, Canada. The CIC is operated in partnership with the University of Quebec's Armand Frappier Institute.

International

Nordion has a European TheraSphere Customer Support Office in Fleurus, Belgium, and Asia Pacific Sales Offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo, Japan.

Awards and recognition

• Canada's Top 100 Employers, 2010 and 2011^[4]
• National Capital Region's Top 25 Employers, 2007-2011^[5]
• Ottawa Business Journal's Forty Under 40 Award^[6]
• Best Employer for New Canadians^[7]
• 2009 Ottawa Business Achievement – Company of the Year Silver Award^[8]
• Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation (CIPEC) Leadership Award^[9]
• ENERGY STAR Market Transformation Award^[10]
• Return on Environment Partnership Award^[11]

References and footnotes

1. ^ *Nordion.com - Executive Management Team
2. ^ *2010 Annual Report (PDF)
3. ^ *2010 Annual Report (PDF)
4. ^ *Eluta.ca: Nordion Inc. Chosen as one of Canada's Top 100 Employers and National Capital Region's Top Employers for 2011
5. ^ *Eluta.ca: Nordion Inc. Chosen as one of Canada's Top 100 Employers and National Capital Region's Top Employers for 2011
6. ^ *Nordion.com - Awards and Recognition
7. ^ *Eluta.ca: Nordion Inc. Chosen as one of Best Employers for New Canadians for 2011
8. ^ *Nordion.com - Awards and Recognition
9. ^ *Nordion.com - Awards and Recognition
10. ^ *Nordion.com - Awards and Recognition
11. ^ *Nordion.com - Awards and Recognition

External links

Companies portal

• Nordion Inc. company website