ATLANTA, GA, Aug 31, 2015 (Marketwired via COMTEX) -- Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. (the "Company") PESI, +1.02% today announced that Perma-Fix Medical S.A., a subsidiary of the Company, completed another successful scale-up of its process to produce Technetium-99m ("Tc-99m") from Molybdenum. The tests confirm that the Company's proprietary resin could withstand higher levels of radiation, up to 6 curies, while providing clinically useful doses of Tc-99m. Two tests were run, in which one run used natural Molybdenum and a second test used enriched Molybdenum-98 (98% purity).

Perma-Fix Medical S.A. plans to continue to conduct additional tests at these or higher curie levels in the near future as part of its multi-step validation and fine tuning of its Tc-99m technology.

Stephen Belcher, CEO of Perma-Fix Medical S.A., commented, "Achieving these results at the 6 curie level are extremely gratifying and further reinforce what we had expected. We plan to conduct additional tests in the near future; but based on these preliminary results, we are extremely confident in our path forward. Importantly, we believe we are now in a position to meet the requirements of customers, not only in emerging markets, but also in North American and European markets. Ultimately, we are convinced that our process will reshape the global supply chain of Tc-99m in the United States and around the world."


Dr. Louis F. Centofanti, CEO of Perma-Fix Environmental Services and Chairman of Perma-Fix Medical S.A., commented, "We look forward to presenting the results of these tests at the US Department of Energy Mo-99 Topical meeting this week in Boston. On the heels of this success, we are continuing with our plans to formalize additional partnerships, and prepare for regulatory submission in North America and Europe."

Tc-99m allows medical practitioners to image internal body organs and is used in 80%-85% of the 25 million diagnostic nuclear medical procedures each year in the U.S. alone. Common procedures include: cardiac imaging; cancer detection bone scans; gastrointestinal issues; and imaging of the brain, kidney, spleen and infections. The radioisotope market in Europe alone is expected to reach $1.6 billion in 2017, up from $1.1 billion in 2012.

Nearly all of the world's supply of Tc-99m comes from the thermal fission of highly enriched uranium ("HEU") targets in a small number of highly specialized reactors. The current process is costly and has proven an unreliable source of radioactive material leading to severe worldwide shortages. The scheduled closure of the NRU reactor in 2016 and the OSIRIS reactor in France in 2018 are expected to have a further impact on the manufacturing and supply of these isotopes. The current process also raises serious proliferation concerns related to the threat associated with international production, transportation and/or use of HEU in the production of medical isotopes.

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