Request for Project Proposals (RPP) for the Isotope Technology Acceleration Program

The Request for Project Proposals process for the Isotope Technology Acceleration Program closed on August 8, 2012. The Program is no longer accepting project proposals.

Budget 2012 included $25M over four years to further advance the development of alternatives to existing isotope production technologies and help secure the supply of medical isotopes for Canadians.

This $25M commitment is the basis for the Isotope Technology Acceleration Program (ITAP).  The ITAP will further develop commercial alternatives to existing reactor-based isotope production technologies to improve the security of supply for Canadians, and to support the Government of Canada’s strategy to move towards a fully market-based supply chain in 2016.

Eligible Technologies

The ITAP will fund activities in the following two priority areas:

  1. cyclotron-based production of technetium-99m (Tc-99m); and
  2. linear accelerator-based production of Tc-99m via the transmutation of molybdenum-100 (Mo-100).

The ITAP will fund research, development and demonstration (RD&D) through the optimization and demonstration phases, including clinical testing and licensing work. 

More specifically, funding will be targeted to optimize and demonstrate activities related to high-priority areas necessary to address commercial-scale potential of the technologies including:

  • target and converter design;
  • target processing and achievable yield;
  • generator design and Tc-99m separation;
  • Mo-100 costs, availability and recycling;
  • overall process optimization, including cooling capacity and yield optimization;
  • clinical trials and other work to address regulatory requirements and achieve drug licensing; and
  • market studies to help with the business development.

Applicants’ Guide

The Applicants’ Guide provides detailed information and instructions necessary to complete and submit a Project Proposal.  Applicants must complete and submit all relevant documents specified in the Applicants’ Guide, without which the project will not be considered.
To obtain a copy of the Applicants’ Guide, send an e-mail request to ITAP-PATI@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca with “Applicants’ Guide” in the subject line (no quotation marks).

Submitting a Project Proposal

Applicants are required to submit all documents including any supporting material by 23:59 EDT, August 8, 2012.  Please refer to the Applicants’ Guide for further instructions on how and where to submit a project proposal.

Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants for the RPP will be legal entities validly incorporated or registered in Canada, including for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, corporations; industry associations; research associations and institutes; Canadian academic institutions; health-care centres; and provincial, territorial, regional and municipal governments.

Federal laboratories may team to support applicants in order to receive funding under this project but they may not lead projects.  

Timeframe

The ITAP will fund RD&D projects to March 31, 2016. 

Project Location

The project location will be in Canada.  All infrastructures funded by the ITAP, in whole or in part, must reside in Canada by the end of the project. Although products and services may be contracted from elsewhere, the products and services associated with the contract must be provided to a Canadian entity.  

Project Funding

The maximum amount of ITAP funding per project will be 65 percent of Total Project Costs, to a maximum of $13M over the four-year timeframe of the program.

ITAP is a conditionally repayable contribution program; therefore, contributions will be repayable where a funded project is profitable beyond the level of cost recovery.