In a ceremony attended by the CEO of Hadassah, Prof. Zeev Rotstein, the Chairman of S.R.Y., Avi Balashnikov, senior figures from the Israeli healthcare system, and representatives from the Israeli Association of Nuclear Medicine, new production rooms of S.R.Y. (Medical Services) were inaugurated at the Hadassah Ein Karem campus.
S.R.Y. is a subsidiary of Hadassah Ein Karem hospital. The company specializes in developing and producing radiopharmaceuticals, and it is the only company in Israel that has clean rooms and cyclotron facilities (particle accelerators) with eight automatic modules for synthesizing different kinds of radioisotopes (cyclotron products).
Building the new production rooms took about four years. It included the construction of clean rooms and modern systems for manufacturing radiopharmaceuticals in a fully automated process, while meeting the strictest standards of the Israeli Ministry of Health, as well as those of European and American (FDA) authorities. These standards ensure the highest safety for patients.
The new production rooms cost about 13 million shekels. S.R.Y.’s products are supplied for PET scans both to Hadassah Ein Karem hospital and to several hospitals throughout the country, including Assuta, Beilinson, Sheba, Ichilov, and Shaare Zedek.
The cyclotron facilities are located about four floors underground, in rooms with concrete walls that are 2.5 meters thick. This is essential for environmental safety. It should be noted that S.R.Y. is the only company in Israel with two cyclotron facilities that can operate at the same time, providing backup if one is under maintenance.
Prof. Eyal Mishani, CEO of S.R.Y. and a pioneer in Israel in the field of cyclotrons, who also serves as a senior advisor to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that the new facility includes state-of-the-art production rooms built to the highest standards available in Israel, which meet the strict global standards of both European and American (FDA) regulations – the highest possible level for patient safety.
Prof. Zeev Rotstein praised Prof. Mishani’s work and noted that patient safety is one of the most important issues to focus on in modern medicine. He added that the new production facility will make this possible in practice for thousands of patients every year at Hadassah and in other hospitals that need radiopharmaceutical products.
Avi Balashnikov, Chairman of S.R.Y. and former Chairman of Hadassah hospitals, said he welcomes the recent decision of the Ministry of Health to advance strict regulations for radiopharmaceuticals in Israel. He expects that, for this issue that is critical to patient health, there will be uncompromising enforcement against those who act without oversight and do not follow strict safety rules.
At the ceremony, Dr. Zvi Bar Sever, Chairman of the Israeli Association of Nuclear Medicine, said that S.R.Y’s new production rooms are of the highest standard and serve as an example for quality in allmatters of work procedures, quality improvement and quality control.
Original publication: Jerusalem Net: Hadassah Ein Kerem Campus: New production facility for medicines
