antidote

7 Stories

Key to Saving Lives From Snakebites Could Be a Pill

Matthew Lewin hopes varespladib, currently in clinical trials via Ophirex, will help buy victims time

(Newser) - According to World Health Organization stats, nearly 140,000 people die annually around the globe from venomous snakebites, with most of them succumbing to the snake's venom before they can get emergency assistance. A California doctor hopes his idea will stymie the Grim Reaper in many of those cases,...

'Lifesaving' Item the Surgeon General Wants Us to Carry

Jerome Adams wants more Americans to keep naloxone on hand to prevent fatal overdoses

(Newser) - The US' chief doctor wants more Americans to carry the overdose antidote naloxone to help combat the nation's opioid crisis and save lives. US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams was to speak about the new public health advisory Thursday at the National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit in...

Kim Jong Nam Was Carrying Nerve Agent Antidote

Court told it was in backpack when he was attacked

(Newser) - Kim Jong Nam had more than just $100,000 in his backpack when he was assassinated, a Malaysian court heard this week: He had something that could have saved his life. At the trial of alleged killers Siti Aisyah of Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam, a government toxicologist...

Boy Survives Spider Bite With Record Dose of Antivenom

The spider is now helping to replenish stocks

(Newser) - A 10-year-old boy in Australia survived a bite from one of the world's deadliest spiders thanks to a quick-thinking dad—and a record-breaking amount of antivenom. Matthew Mitchell was working with his father in a shed at their home around 60 miles north of Sydney when he was bitten...

CVS Makes Big Move in Fight Against Heroin Deaths

Stores in 14 states can now offer overdose-antidote drug naloxone without prescription

(Newser) - People in 14 states can now walk into a CVS and pick up an opioid-overdose antidote without a prescription, the company announced yesterday. Naloxone was already available in stores in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, but now Arkansas, California, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah,...

Discovered: A Better Cyanide Antidote?

Injectable version improves protection against large-scale cyanide attacks

(Newser) - A terrorist attack or large accident involving cyanide has long been a deadly prospect, as current antidotes to the poison require a difficult-to-administer IV infusion that wouldn't be very practical in the case of mass exposure. But now scientists have come up with a much simpler cyanide antidote that...

Scientists Close In on Antidote to Neurotoxin

Cure would block feared bioweapon that causes paralysis

(Newser) - Scientists are one step closer to developing an antidote to botulinum, a potentially devastating biological weapon, the BBC reports. Terrorists have tried, so far unsuccessfully, to deploy the neurotoxin, which is also the culprit in botulism and the secret behind Botox. A botulinum vaccine already exists, but the new drug...

7 Stories