TerrorismA better cyanide antidote for terrorist attacks, mass casualty events

Published 18 March 2013

The current procedure for treating cyanide poisoning requires highly trained paramedical personnel and takes time. Cyanide, however, is a fast-acting poison. In a situation involving mass casualties, only a limited number of victims could be saved with IV medication. Scientists are reporting discovery of a promising substance that could be the basis for development of a better antidote for cyanide poisoning.

The latest episode in the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series describes a new advance toward closing a major gap in defenses against terrorist attacks and other mass casualty events. Scientists are reporting discovery of a promising substance that could be the basis for development of a better antidote for cyanide poisoning. The potential antidote could be self-administered, much like the medication delivered by allergy injection pens.

Based on a report by Steven E. Patterson, Ph.D., and colleagues in ACS Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, the new podcast is available without charge at iTunes and from www.acs.org/globalchallenges.

An ACS release reports that in the new episode, Patterson explains that the only existing antidotes for cyanide — recognized as a high-risk substance for potential use by terrorists — must be administered by intravenous infusion, or an “IV.”

That procedure requires highly trained paramedical personnel and takes time. Cyanide, however, is a fast-acting poison. In a situation involving mass casualties, only a limited number of victims could be saved with IV medication. Patterson’s team thus sought an antidote that could be administered by intra-muscular (IM) injection, a simpler procedure that could be administered rapidly to a large number of victims or even be self-administered.

Their report describes discovery of a substance, sulfanegen TEA, “which should be amenable for development as an IM injectable antidote suitable for treatment of cyanide victims in a mass casualty setting. Further development, including efficacy in lethal cyanide animal models, will be reported at a later date.”

The release notes that Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions is a series of podcasts describing some of the twenty-first century’s most daunting problems, and how cutting-edge research in chemistry matters in the quest for solutions. Global Challenges is the centerpiece in an alliance on sustainability between ACS and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

— Read more in Steven E. Patterson et al., “Cyanide Antidotes for Mass Casualties: Water-Soluble Salts of the Dithiane (Sulfanegen) from 3-Mercaptopyruvate for Intramuscular Administration,” Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 56, no. 3 (9 January 2013): 1346–49 (DOI: 10.1021/jm301633x)