U.S. Food and Drug Administration Calls for New Radiation Treatments

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Friday called for the private development of new treatments to counter exposure to radioactive elements using two new drugs (see GSN, May 19).

The FDA has determined that pentetate calcium trisodium (Ca-DTPA) and pentetate zinc trisodium (Zn-DTPA) help eliminate plutonium, americium and curium from the human body, according to an agency press release.  The FDA is now calling for drug producers to submit marketing applications for treatments using Ca-DTPA and Zn-DTPA because there are currently no such products.

“One of FDA’s most urgent new challenges is to protect Americans from heightened threats of terrorism,” FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan said.  “We are doing all we can to help product developers provide safe and effective countermeasures for biological, chemical, and radiological attacks,” he said (U.S. Food and Drug Administration release, Sept. 12).

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