> the previously approved transuranic radionuclide decontamination drug, diethylenetriamine pentaacetate (DTPA), can only be administered intravenously or by nebulizer—both of which are less feasible options for rapidly treating large populations than the oral route of HOPO 14-1.
Man, the hypothetical scenarios they used to get funding for this must have been horrific.
It's pretty striking that when they set off the Castle Bravo thermonuclear weapons test in the Pacific Ocean, someone superimposed the fallout map on the continental USA. If it had been dropped on DC, half of the population in NYC would have received a fatal dose from the fallout (if unsheltered).
Kinda nuts.
> "If Bravo had been detonated in Washington, D.C., instead of Bikini, Fields illustrated with a diagram, that lifetime dose in the Washington-Baltimore area would have been 5,000 roentgens; in Philadelphia, more than 1,000 roentgens; in New York City, more than 500, or enough to result in death for half the population if fully exposed to all the radiation delivered. This diagram was classified secret and received very little distribution beyond the Commissioners"
Yes but why would you? Radioactivity means you can't reoccupy the land yourself.
If dispensing misery is the goal, we have more effective chemical and biological weapons which are less militarily useful for the same reasons as a high-fallout nuclear bomb would be.
And if it is ever needed, let's hope the stockpiles and logistics are in place to allow for quick distribution of the drug to broad portions of populations which are affected. We saw with COVID-19 that the U.S. let the Strategic National Stockpile become depleted. In the worst case, let's hope the drug has been maintained to be immediately available.
They're determining safety and tolerability, not efficacy. For this, they just need adequately compensated trial volunteers who take one of several different doses of the medicine and track/report symptoms, have some doctor visits, and get a lot of blood drawn. Oh, and for this one, sample urine and feces. You can read the clinical trial doc: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05628961
To get full approval they could combine this with animal efficacy studies like they did for the smallpox treatment tecoviromat, since you can’t give smallpox to trial participants either. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6663070/
It turned out to be really useful to have tecoviromat for the recent mpox outbreak
This is cool. This is for removing nucleotides from the body, rather than repairing damage done by radiation exposure (which probably can’t be done with drugs).
This is factually incorrect. This HOPO 14-1 chelates f-block elements, many of which are radioactive, without depleting other metal ions from the body which are essential for metabolism and other functions. Also, there are a large number of agents which can mitigate the damage done by radiation exposure when administered prophylactically
Nuclear winter leading to crop failure and famine is still a terrifying specter. Even if there was a magical pill that made people 100% radiation proof that could be easily manufactured and distributed without any logistical problems, there would still be UNFATHOMABLE death and misery, and I think there’d still be pretty good odds that we’d go extinct.
Man, the hypothetical scenarios they used to get funding for this must have been horrific.
Let's hope this drug is never needed.
Kinda nuts.
> "If Bravo had been detonated in Washington, D.C., instead of Bikini, Fields illustrated with a diagram, that lifetime dose in the Washington-Baltimore area would have been 5,000 roentgens; in Philadelphia, more than 1,000 roentgens; in New York City, more than 500, or enough to result in death for half the population if fully exposed to all the radiation delivered. This diagram was classified secret and received very little distribution beyond the Commissioners"
https://whatisnuclear.com/img/castle-bravo-if-on-dc.png
Page 182 of Atoms for Peace and War [1]
[1] https://www.energy.gov/management/articles/hewlett-and-holl-...
If a thermonuclear blast happens anywhere in your region, GO INSIDE IMMEDIATELY AND STAY INSIDE WHEREVER YOU ARE FOR AT LEAST 2 DAYS!
If dispensing misery is the goal, we have more effective chemical and biological weapons which are less militarily useful for the same reasons as a high-fallout nuclear bomb would be.
https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/emergencies/ki.htm
And how do you trial this? Contaminating subjects with plutonium would seemingly violate ethics guidelines.
It turned out to be really useful to have tecoviromat for the recent mpox outbreak
Nukiban
Becquellazam
Radax
Curifase
(Some game writer is probably kicking themselves for not coming up with Roentgone, though.)
It’s a great thing but sure makes pushing that button easier if you know you can take a pill and not everyone dies.