Introduction

An urgent need exists for drugs that protect against exposure to radiation in the context of terrorism, nuclear accident or war.  Recognizing this need the United States government has implemented initiatives to develop agents to treat civilian casualties and to protect emergency response personnel from such an event.  As part of these Homeland Security measures the FDA has recently established a counter-terrorism program to address both radioprotection and protection from biological agents.  Currently, only potassium iodide is recognized as a radioprotectant in this context, protecting only the thyroid from radioactive iodine.

Animal Models

Biomodels has extensive experience in evaluating radiation protectants in the context of total body irradiation (TBI) using external beam radiation in mice.   Endpoints in these studies are generally survival, typically a determination of LD50/30  and weight loss.