Nordion Inc., a Sotera Health company, is a

health science The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to health sciences: Health sciences – those sciences that focus on health, or health care, as core parts of their subject matter. Health sciences relate to multiple ...

company that provides Cobalt-60 used for sterilization and treatment of disease (radiotherapy). Nordion is headquartered in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, with facilities in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

and Laval,

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. Riaz Bandali is the company's President. The company was acquired by Sotera Health in 2014 for million (equivalent to $million in ).

History

Founded in 1946, originally the radium sales department of Eldorado Mining and Refining Ltd., the division developed one of the first radiotherapy 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

Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories Chalk River Laboratories (; also known as CRL, Chalk River Labs and formerly Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, CRNL) is a Canadian nuclear research facility in Deep River, about north-west of Ottawa. CRL is a site of significant research and d ...

, a 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 Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL, Énergie atomique du Canada limitée, EACL) is a Canadian Crown corporation and the largest nuclear science and technology laboratory in Canada. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in th ...

(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. In July 2013, Nordion completed the divestiture of its Targeted Therapies business to BTG plc. The company is now focused on Nordion and its sterilization technologies and medical isotopes businesses. The company generated million USD (equivalent to $million in ) in revenues in the 2012 fiscal year, with over 70% of its revenue coming from within North America. It was acquired by Sotera Health in 2014 for million (equivalent to $million in ). The company's press release stated that the acquisition created "the only vertically integrated sterilization company in the world." Nordion sold its Medical Isotopes business in 2018.

Products

Gamma 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 Cobalt-60 (Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2714 years. It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisotop ...

, the isotope that produces the gamma radiation required to destroy harmful micro-organisms. The company also designs and sells a family of production irradiators.

Locations

The Nordion corporate headquarters are located in

, Canada. The headquarters are the main manufacturing facilities for medical isotopes, used in medical imaging and radiopharmaceuticals, and for

sources and industrial food irradiators. The Nordion Gamma Centre of Excellence (GCE) is a gamma irradiation research, training, and demonstration facility located in Laval,

, Canada. The GCE is operated in partnership with the

University of Quebec A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". U ...

's Armand Frappier Institute. Nordion has an Asia Pacific Sales Office in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

References

External links

{{Authority control Pharmaceutical companies of Canada Pharmaceutical companies established in 1946 Companies based in Ottawa