A bomb of Sarin nerve gas was exploded on a Japaness subway train and there were tens of casualties. This happened a few years ago but the memories are fresh in my mind. “Terrorists, you will not be able to threathen the good citizens of any country anymore”. The good guys have found another way to defeat you.
The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defence and the Army Research and Material Command located in Maryland have announced some very interesting findings from their experiments on guinea pigs.
Large doses of sarin werve gas was administered to guinea pigs. They did not die. They also administered Soman, sister nerve gas of Sarin. Still the guinea pigs did not die. Finally, they (the scientists) administered another group of poisons to these guine pigs. They did not die. Normally, each one of these poisons would have been sufficient to kill the poor guinea pigs.
The Super Survival of the guinea pigs was attributed to the fact that they were administered large doses of an “Alzheimer’s medication”.
The medication used was galatamine hydrobromide. It seems that this medication was able to prevent soman, sarin and the organophosphates from penetrating the blood brain barrier.
“Reminyl” chemically known as galantamine hydrobromide is used by approximately million Americans suffering from Alzheimers. It is one of a group of drugs called "cholinesterase inhibitors" which is used to treat symptoms in people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. The new trade name for this medication is Razadyne.
In applied terms, this means is that the terrorists will not be able to kill, maim or threathen innocent people with at least these chemicals anymore. Galatamine hydrobromide seems to be an effective antidote for Soman, Sarin and certain organophosphates.
The beauty of this discovery is the fact that this medication is in current use and is easily accessible to many people eventhough on prescription. Easy availability, in real terms, means that when someone is threathened or is supected to have been administered the poison, an antidote could be given because the known side effects are minimal.
One last word of caution, scientists are always cautious when they release results of this type of discovery. This one is no exception. The report cautioned against beng too optimistic because they have not tested the poisons on female guinea pigs. All tests, to date, were on male guinea pigs. The tests on female guinea pigs will be conducted shortly. Personally, I feel this caution is unwarranted because male and female guinea pigs have same bichemical pathways.
It is possible that Galatamine hydrobromide will be added to the arsenal of medications supplied to military members and first responders.
No report of any medication is complete without studying it’s impact on its net gain. Britain’s Shire Pharmaceuticals which is a unit of Johnson and Johnson should see it’s net worth increase by substantial amount.
