Amersham plc: Health, Safety and the Environment Review 2000

Nycomed Amersham Imaging supplies a range of products used in medical diagnosis to produce images of organs and tissues within the body, enabling clinicians to diagnose diseases and identify their correct treatment. Currently, four diagnostic imaging techniques are used. These are:

X-Ray [including computed tomography (CT), a form of moving x-ray]
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Ultrasound
Nuclear Imaging - the use of radioisotopes in the body for diagnostic purposes.

Each technique has its advantages and disadvantages in terms of application, sensitivity and ability to visualise different parts of the body, but often the use of radioisotopes is the best, and sometimes only, means of accurate medical diagnosis.

Nycomed Amersham Imaging also manufactures and supplies various therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals, including OncoSeed™ - radioactive Iodine 125 Seeds, which are implanted into the prostate gland to treat prostate cancer, and Metastron™, an effective pain relief for bone metastases. This use of radioisotopes clearly requires specialised skills and precautions in the product's development, manufacture, transport, packaging, storage and application.

Amersham Pharmacia Biotech's products are crucial in the drug discovery process and in all manner of biological research. The company's MegaBACE™ high-throughput DNA sequencing machines are being used by researchers to map the human genome. Rapid screening of chemicals which may be potential new drugs is achieved with the company's SPA and LEADseeker™ technology.

Drug research and manufacture utilise the company's many cell biology and chemical separations technologies. As in Imaging, a small proportion of Amersham Pharmacia Biotech's products involve the use of radioactivity, for example, to 'tag' molecules to allow researchers to trace their progress in cell cultures and biological systems.