health science founded 1946 headquarters ottawa ontario canada area served global key people steve west 1 products sterilization technologies medical isotopes revenue 244.8 million usd 2012 2 number of employees 450 2013 3 parent sterigenics international website http www.nordion.com nordion inc. is a health science company that provides products used for the prevention diagnosis and treatment of disease . the company supplies sterilization technologies and medical isotopes to customers in more than 40 countries around the world . 3 nordion is headquartered in ottawa ontario canada with facilities in vancouver british columbia and laval quebec . steve west is the company s ceo . it was acquired by sterigenics international in 2014 for 805 million usd . 4 contents 1 history 2 products 2.1 sterilization technologies 2.2 medical isotopes 3 locations 4 awards and recognition 5 community work 6 references and footnotes 7 external links history edit founded in 1946 5 originally the radium sales department of eldorado mining and refining ltd. the division developed one of the first teletherapy units that used the radioisotope cobalt 60 to destroy cancerous tumours . soon after the division was given responsibility for selling radioisotopes produced by the newly established nuclear research facility at chalk river ontario . as a result in 1951 eldorado established a commercial products division cpd to manage the isotope business especially cobalt 60 used in cancer treatment . in 1952 the federal government created atomic energy of canada limited aecl a crown corporation . shortly thereafter cpd was transferred to aecl where it remained for the next 40 years and was renamed the radio chemical division . in 1988 ownership of the radio chemical division was transferred from aecl to the canadian development investment corporation cdic . the company assumed a new name nordion international inc. and was later sold to mds health group in 1991 . in 2010 mds inc. completed a strategic repositioning which saw the company divest its mds analytical technologies and mds pharma services businesses . also in 2010 shareholders of mds inc. approved a change of name from mds inc. to nordion inc. the company officially changed its name to nordion inc. on november 1 2010 . 6 in july 2013 nordion completed the divestiture of its targeted therapies business to btg plc. 7 the company is now focused on nordion and its sterilization technologies and medical isotopes businesses . the company generated 244.8 million usd in revenues in the 2012 fiscal year with over 70 % of its revenue coming from within north america . 3 it was acquired by sterigenics international in 2014 for 805 million usd . 8 the company s press release stated that the acquisition created the only vertically integrated sterilization company in the world . 9 products edit the company s products and services include sterilization technologies edit customers use nordion s gamma sterilization technologies to sterilize medical surgical supplies and devices as well as certain consumer products such as food and cosmetics . nordion supplies cobalt 60 2 the isotope that produces the gamma radiation required to destroy harmful micro organisms . the company also markets a family of production irradiators . medical isotopes edit nordion processes packages and delivers medical isotopes used for diagnostic procedures and treatment of diseases including cardiac and neurological conditions and several types of cancer . the company offers both reactor and cyclotron based isotopes including molybdenum 99 used in the manufacture of technetium 99m generators . technetium is the primary isotope used in millions of nuclear cardiology procedures every year . nordion also offers contract manufacturing services which can include medical isotopes for clinical trials or commercial development . locations edit the nordion corporate headquarters are located in ottawa ontario canada . the headquarters are the main manufacturing facilities for medical isotopes used in medical imaging and radiopharmaceuticals and for cobalt 60 sources and industrial food irradiators . the vancouver british columbia canada facility is located on the campus of the university of british columbia . in collaboration with tri university meson facility triumf canada s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics the facility processes medical isotopes and radiopharmaceuticals . the nordion gamma centre of excellence gce is a gamma irradiation research training and demonstration facility located in laval quebec canada . the gce is operated in partnership with the university of quebec s armand frappier institute . nordion has an asia pacific sales office in hong kong . awards and recognition edit canada s top 100 employers 2010 and 2011 10 national capital region s top 25 employers 2007 2013 11 ottawa business journal s forty under 40 award 12 best employer for new canadians 13 2009 ottawa business achievement company of the year silver award 12 canadian industry program for energy conservation cipec leadership award 12 energy star market transformation award 12 return on environment partnership award 12 community work edit canadian blood services 14 ottawa food bank 14 the ottawa hospital ride the rideau and gala for research 14 the university of ottawa heart institute 14 toy mountain 14 references and footnotes edit nordion.com executive management team a b 2012 annual report pdf a b c nordion corporate presentation nordion agrees to sweetened offer from sterigenics . wsj.com . wall street journal . june 2 2014 . retrieved may 20 2016 . about nordion . nordion.com . nordion . retrieved may 20 2016 . nordion.com our history nordion.com news release nordion completes divestiture of targeted therapies business to btg plc nordion agrees to sweetened offer from sterigenics . wsj.com . wall street journal . june 2 2014 . retrieved may 20 2016 . sterigenics international completes 826 million acquisition of nordion inc. . businesswire.com . business wire . august 6 2014 . retrieved may 20 2016 . eluta.ca nordion inc. chosen as one of canada s top 100 employers and national capital region s top employers for 2011 eluta.ca nordion inc. chosen as one of national capital region s top employers for 2012 a b c d e nordion.com awards and recognition eluta.ca nordion inc. chosen as one of best employers for new canadians for 2012 a b c d e nordion in the community external links edit companies portal retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title nordion & oldid 721214834 categories pharmaceutical companies of canadapharmaceutical companies established in 1946companies based in ottawa navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout 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