Medical Countermeasures Against Chemical Threats

Nervous System

Short-Term Goals

• Initiate appropriate clinical studies to determine the safety and efficacy of promising anticonvulsants, such as midazolam, that would lead to FDA licensure, and explore the use of such products in different populations
• Establish a drug development program that includes preclinical drug screening and clinical studies on potential anticonvulsant and neuroprotective therapies
• Identify and validate appropriate models for preclinical drug testing, including in vitro systems and animal models, to investigate the effects of high and low levels of exposure to nerve agents
• Expand knowledge of how different nerve agents are absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and eliminated by the body, and explore the interactions of agents with current antidotes
• Determine optimal drug formulations of the most promising medical countermeasures, and safe and effective route(s) of administration
• Explore the practical use of enzyme bioscavengers that could be used to treat victims after exposure to nerve agents
• Establish a collaborative research effort with DoD to develop medical countermeasures against nerve agents of greatest concern, capitalizing on current and future DoD research
• Develop a comprehensive medical research program that involves academia and industry in the development of specific medical countermeasures directed against nerve agents

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