Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance
committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports
if they are used for other purposes.
Current FIRs (in HTML & Adobe PDF formats) are a vailable on the NM Legislative Website (legis.state.nm.us).
Adobe PDF versions include all attachments, whereas HTML versions may not. Previously issued FIRs and
attachments may be obtained from the LFC in Suite 101 of the State Capitol Building North.
F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Jennings
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
1/31/08
HB
SHORT TITLE UNM Center for Isotopes in Medicine
SB 464
ANALYST Williams
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY08
FY09
$3,000.0
Recurring
General Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)
FY08
FY09
FY10 3 Year
Total Cost
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
Total
Unknown
at this
time
Unknown
at this time Recurring General
Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Higher Education Department (HED)
Economic Development Department (EDD)
University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (UNM HSC)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Bill 464 appropriates $3 million from the General Fund to the Board of Regents of the
University of New Mexico to plan and develop a Center for Isotopes in Medicine. Funds would
be available from FY09 to FY12.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $3 million contained in this bill is shown as a recurring expense to the
General Fund, despite the language to “plan and develop". Any unexpended or unencumbered
balance remaining at the end of FY12 shall revert to the General Fund.
pg_0002
Senate Bill 464 – Page
2
Per UNM HSC, funding would be used as follow: Faculty and staff salaries and benefits
$400,000 per year for 3 years ($1,200,000); 2) Equipment and renovation $500,000 per year for
3 years ($1,500,000); and 3) Software and radiopharmaceuticals $100,000 per year for 3 years
($300,000). Therefore, this bill is scored as a recurring impact to the general fund. UNM HSC
notes infrastructure development funds are needed along with faculty salaries and start-up
expenses for three new faculty. After the three year period, the faculty positions would be
provided for jointly by the College of Pharmacy and the UNM Cancer Research and Treatment
Center. Yet, UNM HSC argues that formula funding would not be available. If these items were
to be considered non-recurring, it is not clear what the source of funding would be and whether
there would be additional operating costs for the general fund.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
The mission of the NMCIM is to develop unique medically-useful radio-isotopes, in
collaboration with the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Isotope Production Facility
(IPF). The IPF is a beam spur off of the LANL linear accelerator (LINAC) that produces unique
gamma emitting and positron emitting (PET) isotopes that have not historically been available in
sufficient quantities for product development. The IPF represent total investment of $30 million.
There is a longstanding partnership between the University of New Mexico (UNM) College of
Pharmacy (COP) Radiopharmacy Program, the UNM Cancer Research and Treatment Center
(CRTC) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). On March 8, 2005, the Executive co-
signed an agreement to formally establish the first medical isotopes center in the United States as
a partnership between UNM and LANL.
This branch of nuclear medicine uses radiation to provide diagnostic information about the
functioning of specific organs or to treat disease. The use of radiopharmaceuticals in diagnosis is
growing at over 10 percent per year.
The center has or currently receives funding the federal government, including Department of
Energy, Defense and Health and Human Services; State of New Mexico; University of New
Mexico; Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and pharmaceutical industry contacts. In the
past, the United States Department of Energy provided grant funding for education and training.
The initial four funding grants supported by the 2005 Technology Research Collaborative (TRC)
appropriations were based on the following award criteria: Strategic value, commercial
feasibility, economic potential, collaboration, management and matching resource requirement.
Total TRC grant awards from 2005 appropriations totaled $996.8 thousand, which included
$348.0 thousand to the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center and Los Alamos
National Laboratory for radiopharmaceutical isotopes for medical diagnostic applications.
HED notes this proposal was submitted by UNM HSC for consideration in the Fall 2007 budget
request cycle, but was not included in the HED budget request for higher education. In that
budget request, this project was ranked by the UNM Board of Regents in priority order as #4 out
of 6 for UNM HSC. In a November 2007 HED evaluation of research and public service
projects expansion and new initiative requests, HED ranked this project as “would not oppose if
funding available."
The January 2008 LFC report “Higher Education Department Review of Selected Research and
pg_0003
Senate Bill 464 – Page
3
Public Service Projects" discusses best practices for funding these types of projects.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
Making drugs with these isotopes is difficult because of rapid decay; in some cases, in a couple
of days. UNM notes LANL is limited in its ability to develop medically useful formulations and
products because it has large-scale production facilities which cannot develop dosage forms used
in medical laboratories and clinics.
The center plans to develop the products and markets for these radioisotopes, specifically to
develop radiochemical procedures using novel isotopes and formations, focusing initially on
cancer detection and therapy with the UNM CRTC, to test these novel radiopharmaceuticals in
appropriate cell culture and animal models leading to development of new drugs. UNM College
of Pharmacy is an established world leader in the training and certification of scientists qualified
to formulate and develop novel radiopharmaceuticals, as well as to test them in animal models
and advance them to clinic trails.
NM Center for Isotopes in Medicine (NMCIM) and the UNM Cancer Research and Treatment
Center are finalizing a partnership with Siemens PETNET for $5 million to establish a cyclotron
in the Cancer Research and Treatment Center. NMCIM personnel will be the principal scientists
on this project. The project recently received a Keck Foundation grant, relating to novel imaging
agents.
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS
1.
How does this project align the university’s strategic plan.
2.
What performance measures would be available to assess outcomes.
3.
To what extent are federal funds or other funds available for this purpose. What is the
outlook for this funding source.
4.
To what extent are indirect cost share funds available for this purpose.
5.
How was grant funding used from the 2005 appropriation to the Technology Research
Collaborative used.
6.
To what extent would there be on-going operating costs to the general fund.
AW/mt