Medicines from radiation?

Scientists have developed a drug which they say could protect people from the effects of radiation. The drug under the working title HE2100 was established American company Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals. The companies argue that drugs can help most people who were not in the immediate vicinity of the attack with a "dirty bomb".
Preliminary experiments suggest that the drug can stop the bleeding and loss of white blood cells in the body. Specialists Hollis-Eden has experienced only drugs on animals. Test it on humans could not, because the test would have to be radiation. Now the company is planning a larger study. If the results are stable, Hollis-Eden intends to request the United States government for a license to sell the drug. Changes to the rules governing the licensing of American pharmaceutical products, are now allowed to use medicines that have not been large-scale tests on humans. Under the new rules, the drug is tested on primates and small group of volunteers.

The amount of drugs

The United States promised in the next few years for pharmaceutical companies to $ 6 billion for the development of drugs needed to combat the consequences of bioterrorism attacks. According to Bob Marsella of Hollis-Eden, new drugs will cost between 50 and 75 dollars per course, but his store will be a long one. "This will not be a panacea," says Professor Paul Wilkinson of the Center for the Study of Terrorism at the University of St. Andrews United Kingdom. People in the immediate vicinity of the explosion to a dose of radiation that medical intervention will save them. " "But people in the outside radius of the defeat of the medicine might help if further experiments to confirm its effectiveness," he said.
BBC World Service