Sirtex to triple US manufacturing capacity

Sirtex Systems (ASX:SIR) will invest $4 million to triple the US manufacturing capacity for its SIR-Spheres targeted radiation treatments for liver cancer.

The company will install two new “hot cells” and the required ancillary equipment at its Massachusetts facility over the next 18 months.

Sirtex CEO Gilman Wong said the planned upgrade has been prompted by the “unprecedented” growth in unit sales during FY12, and fits in with the company's overarching strategy for the next eight years.

This strategy projects “a step change in growth following the results of some of our clinical studies,” Wong said. “The first of these is the SIRFLOX study set to complete recruitment in early 2013.”

SIR-Spheres are also manufactured in Australia and Singapore. They have TGA approval in Australia, FDA approval in the US and a CE Mark in Europe.

The microspheres are targeted radioactive treatments designed to lodge into the vasculature of a tumour, then transmit radiation into the tumour tissue to damage or, ideally, eliminate it. They are injected via the hepatic artery.

Sirtex hopes that robust clinical trial data from its trials in progress will help stimulate wider adoption of the treatment in first-line therapy.

Sirtex (ASX:SRX) shares were trading 2.79% higher at $6.640 by around 3pm on Friday.