The development of five new drugs to treat injuries associated with acute radiation syndrome will move forward under contracts awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
Acute radiation syndrome is caused by exposure to high doses of damaging (ionizing) radiation. ARS includes injuries to multiple organs, hemorrhaging, infection, and suppression of the immune system’s ability to fight organisms that cause infection.
Because no products are licensed to treat any aspect of acute radiation syndrome, BARDA is supporting the development of products to treat bone marrow, gastrointestinal, lung, and skin injury caused by radiation. BARDA expects to expand this list to include products to treat the thermal burns that might be caused by a nuclear detonation.
Today’s contracts total $56.3 million for development of products that potentially could treat bone marrow and gastrointestinal injuries from high levels of radiation, such as after denotation of an improvised nuclear device. Bone marrow and gastrointestinal injuries are expected to account for the majority of radiation-related deaths after a nuclear denotation.
Full Story: BARDA_RadiationCountermeasure