Yucatan Debuts Southeast Mexico’s First Cyclotron for Precision Oncology

Mérida, Yucatán — Yucatán has brought the first cyclotron in southeastern Mexico online, an investment officials say will let the state produce radiopharmaceuticals locally and speed up the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, neurological and heart conditions.

Governor Joaquín Díaz Mena unveiled the facility at Dzununcán, a comisaría of Mérida. The equipment will support studies for the early detection of tumors and metastases, help assess how patients respond to treatment and enable specialized analyses of the heart and brain, expanding the state’s medical and scientific capabilities.

“For the first time in its history, Yucatán is moving from being a user of high-specialty medical technology to developing its own capacity to produce and distribute radiopharmaceuticals,” the governor said. “This leap positions us as a regional reference point in nuclear medicine and precision oncology.”

The private oncology center project involves an investment of 900 million pesos over 2026-2030 and the creation of 100 jobs — 30 direct and 70 indirect — tied to highly specialized fields such as medical physics, radiochemistry and nuclear medicine.

Díaz Mena said the cyclotron shows what Yucatán can achieve when the private sector, government and local talent pull in the same direction. “We will keep working together so that Yucatán becomes the high-specialty medicine hub of southeastern Mexico,” he said.

The platform includes an 18 megaelectronvolt (MeV) IBA Cyclone KIUBE cyclotron, a specialized radiopharmacy, synthesis modules and a quality-control laboratory, along with a latest-generation linear accelerator.

Jorge Ermilo Barrera Novelo, the state’s secretary of Economy and Labor, said that two years into the administration, investments like this send a clear message about Yucatán’s ability to compete in high-value sectors such as pharmaceuticals and advanced medicine.

“We are doing the same in sectors like semiconductors, the naval industry, advanced manufacturing and many others, showing that these industries can indeed be developed in Yucatán and that the income of Yucatecan families can improve every day through better wages and salaries,” he said.

Miguel Alberto Alcocer Gamboa, secretary of Health and director general of Yucatán Health Services, explained that radiopharmaceuticals are used in nuclear medicine studies to gather information about how organs and tissues function. In certain types of cancer, he said, they reveal how far the disease has spread, guide clinical decisions and measure the response to treatment.

“This information gives the medical team better tools to define care for each person, which is why it is significant to develop the capacity to produce these materials in Yucatán,” he said.