Technetium 99m isotopes are used to diagnose bone and breast cancers and measure blood flow in the heart. (CBC)

A company that sells some medical isotopes to Canada says a nuclear research reactor in Poland will increase the worldwide supply.

Covidien PLC of Dublin, Ireland, announced Wednesday it has signed a deal with the Institute of Atomic Energy in Poland to produce the isotope Technetium 99m, which is used to diagnose bone and breast cancers and measure blood flow in the heart.

"It is the first time in decades that a new reactor has been brought into the global supply chain for medical isotopes," Timothy Wright, president of pharmaceuticals at Covidien, said in a statement.

The deal aims to provide more than one million patients worldwide with access to the isotope, he added.

On Friday, a reactor in Petten, the Netherlands, is scheduled to begin a six-month shutdown for scheduled repairs. Canada's National Research Universal reactor in Chalk River, Ont., has been shut down for repairs since May 2009 and is not expected to reopen before April.

When both reactors are operating, they provide about 65 per cent of the world's supply of medical isotopes.

Approval still needed in Canada, U.S.

Isotopes from the Maria Research Reactor, about 30 kilometers southwest of Warsaw, won't be able to make up for Dutch and Canadian isotopes, but should be able to supply some isotopes to help fill in the gap.

Covidien said the isotopes should be commercially available to meet European needs within 30 days. The plan still needs regulatory approval in Canada and the U.S., the company said.

Even if isotopes from the Polish reactor don't make it to Canada directly, the increase in global supply will help relieve the shortage Canada will face in the next two months, said Dr. Christopher O'Brien, head of the Ontario Association of Nuclear Medicine.

Covidien supplies isotopes for much of Western Canada. Lantheus Medical Imaging of North Billerica, Mass., supplies Eastern Canada, normally with isotopes from Chalk River.

Since other countries are also considering creating their own supplies of isotopes, by the time the Chalk River reactor comes back on line, it will no longer be in the same dominant position in the marketplace, O'Brien said.

Other reactors in Belgium, France and South Africa also produce small amounts of medical isotopes.