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Biotech Science

Anti-Radiation Drug 27

Posted by michael from the jump-on-the-homesec-gravy-train dept.
BravoFourEcho writes "The BBC has an article about a U.S. company that is producing a drug to mitigate some of the effects of radiation. Reminds me of Rad-X in the Fallout series of games."
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Anti-Radiation Drug More

Anti-Radiation Drug

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  • Does this have an effect on UV ray exposure?
  • the side effects?

    Warning: This drug may cause cancer or reproductive harm. In lab rats, anyway. YMMV

    GTRacer
    - Coulda used this last week at the dentist's!

  • How about we test this drug on some of these hardcore prisoner death-row types in places like Riker's Island and San Quentin?

  • Meanwhile (Score:4, Informative)

    by egoff ( 636181 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2003 @04:21PM (#5687868)
    The American Academy of Pediatrics [newsobserver.com] is recommending that parents and schools keep potassium iodine on hand, just in case.
  • Warning: This drug may cause cancer or reproductive harm. In lab rats, anyway. YMMV

    Thats nice considering I had radiation exposure as a treatment for my ewings sarcoma [cancerindex.org] and it had THE SAME side effects!

  • Let me pick the name (Score:2, Funny)

    by PD ( 9577 )
    I propose that we call this new drug "RADLAX"

    The marketing slogan will be "substitute one dirty bomb for another"

  • Neupogen (Score:5, Informative)

    by Bowling Moses ( 591924 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2003 @04:46PM (#5688036) Journal
    Other than introducing competition into the marketplace we can't tell how important this is. Cancer patients as a result of their treatment have their white blood cell counts hit the floor and have been taking the drug Neupogen (as the company's website says). Neupogen (in my thankfully very limited second hand experience) works pretty well. A family member of mine taking the drug got a worried phonecall from the lab asking him if he was alright--his white blood cell count was something like 20x higher than a normal, healthy person. But to know how big of a deal HE2100 really is there would need to be a comparison of it to Neupogen, which the article and HollisEden's website don't offer.
  • Wouldn't it be a delicious irony if the drug causes cancer... and the cancer is only treatable with radiation therapy?
    • Let's take it one step further, Bisifiniti: if this drug were carcinogenic and required radiation treatment, would the radiation treatment be ineffective due to the drug?

  • Effectiveness? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by meridoc ( 134765 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2003 @05:45PM (#5688403)

    Okay, I'm only a chemist (not a biologist), but how well will increasing the white blood cell count really keep you from getting sick? After a large dose of radiation, there should *not* be a negligible effect on the person, whether the radiation is what would kill him/her or not.

    Assuming there's a nuclear detonation, there will be some people who are beyond hope, but what about the next level of people, the ones with, say, big burns and high-exposure? Will giving them a super-dose of blood cells cure everything, or just prolong their lives? It sounds kind of cruel, but after something traumatic like that, it may be more humane to just let them go.

    I guess my point is, at what point should we be content to resign ourselves to letting people die, to allow them a higher quality of life?


    • > I guess my point is, at what point should we be content to resign ourselves to letting people die, to allow them a higher quality of life?

      After you, my friend!

    • I agree with you also.
      but the problem lies in who gets to say how much is enough suffering or when the quality of life is too low.

      me, i have a general distrust for modern medicine. it may be able to help people, but it is also bringing on its own problems such as superbugs. but that is for a different topic i guess.

      bring on the euthenasia for me

    • Re:Effectiveness? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by sl3xd ( 111641 )
      Well, while the article speaks about a nuclear attack, this is not the only source of radiation.

      There are still several Chernobyl-design reactors in operation, as well as other 'safer' nuclear reactors.

      It helps to boost the immune system of patients undergoing radiation therapy; which I think will be the primary use of such a drug.

      And, of course, it may be of great benefit for a future Mars mission, where it can combat the radiation exposure that the astronauts would be exposed to.
  • It was either U-571, or maybe it was K-19: The widowmaker, but didn't they give the sailors red wine, a glass a night to slow the absorbtion of radiaton? Or was that just an 'old wive's tale'?
  • Ahh, I can just hear Beverly Crusher:

    "Now, you've only got 30 minutes on the USS Doomed before the zeta boop epsilon radiatior-the-writers-invented-to-solve-a-plot-ho l e kills you, so make sure you transport back before then. Of course, you'll be a few minutes late, but you'll be fine when I rush you to sickbay and Picard says gee-golly-thanks, and it'll all just prove I'm just the nagging-mom type. So here's your damn mittens, Geordi. Go be the hero while I go nag Wesley so the viewers have someone t

  • Weird company: do not invest (Score:3, Informative)

    by Muhammar ( 659468 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2003 @08:47PM (#5689680)
    Hollis-Eden was trying to shut-up its own unhappy investors (that criticized them on internet) in a nice Scientologist way. Their 2 lawsuits were just thrown out and they have to pay the other party lawyers.
    http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release .cfm?ID=87 6

    Until very recently, they were running out of cash (less than 1 year on operating expences left in the bank) and nobody would lend them any more.

    This is a very small company (50 people) in San Diego. They do not do discovery of their own drugs, they just licence them. Their clams to treat and even cure AIDS, malaria, lupus, cardiovascular ailments and radiation sickness!! And by using steroids, similar to common anabolics. Without knowing the exact mechanismus how their stuff work. No wonder a lot of people in the field does not want to deal with them!

    Their self-promotion is aggresive, and until very recently they had not much to show for all their investors money. Their stock was hyped up and then collapsed several times, because of Barnum-like announcements.

    But the strange thing is that their panacea drugs may actualy work. Their flagship drug candidate HE2200 - Androstenetriol (AET), metabolite of Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) - happens to protect animals if given before or immediately after radiation injury.

    It seems like the wrong people got lucky. I hope they do not srew this up, because if they do, other companies may not take over their drugs, because of the patentability issues.
  • I have long had a theory (well, good enough for a story I wrote), that when they get a pill to counter radioactive poisoning, all hell will break loose, because lack of same is the only thing keeping them from using nuclear tactical missiles.

    I'm all for this, I don't think not pursuing medical science is a good way to prevent war... so let's move forward, but I'm not sure that I'm not right that such a thing increases the liklihood of nuclear war. Which is to say, I think I might be right about this.

    Or p

  • Reminds me of "Screamers" with Peter Weller (Score:3, Informative)

    by dpilot ( 134227 ) on Wednesday April 09, 2003 @08:33AM (#5692398) Homepage Journal
    They had radiation attacks, and had to take their medication when the alert sounded.

    In order to properly deliver the medication to the lungs, they smoked these special cigarettes. Imagine, smoking cigarettes to prevent lung cancer. (or worse)
  • Given that this drug increases the production of white blood cells, what would the effects of giving it to an AIDS patient be?

    On the one hand, you increase their white count, allowing them to fight off other infections better.

    On the other hand, you increase the very cells the virus infects.

    Also, since this drug would increase the production of white cells, in the presense of radiation damage would that not also increase the likelyhood of creating cancer cells?

    Sure, you survive the initial exposure, but
  • 7 of 9: "The fold contains three radiation types we didn't account for. The shield modifications are not enough."

    Barclay hologram: "The shields were modified to work in combination with the innoculations. We'll be fine."

  • company press release (Score:3, Informative)

    by gene_tailor ( 601527 ) on Wednesday April 09, 2003 @09:42PM (#5698132) Journal
    The BBC article seems to be nearly scientific content free... the company has a press release [holliseden.com] about this drug which at least gives some highlights of their animal tests. Now, does anybody know what the people at the British Society For Haematology meeting who saw the details thought of this?
  • of course, we all have our favorite example in games and sci-fi.

    Previous article though pointing to "Deux Ex"... warren spector.. Looking Glass.. SYSTEM SHOCK!

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