Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Blade Nzimande will on Friday launch the South African Isotope Facility (SAIF), which is supported and funded by the department.
SAIF, a flagship programme at iThemba LABS in Cape Town, is a response to the growing challenge of cancer, which the World Health Organisation expects to become the leading cause of death in Africa by 2030.
“The facility will conduct advanced research and training capacity, as well as increase the production capacity for radioisotopes, including new-generation novel radioisotopes,” said Nzimande.
“In addition, SAIF has acquired a dedicated cyclotron with associated infrastructure for producing radioisotopes, thus freeing the existing separated sector cyclotron for full-time research and training.”
The iThemba LABS is one of few places in the country 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, end-to-end logistics, marketing and sales.
“The research facility also supplies certain medical isotopes for South African nuclear medicine clinics, which cannot be supplied by anyone else or even imported now.”
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