Alzheimer Medication Galantamine As Antidote to Nerve Agent and Pesticide Poisoning

Filed in archive Drugs, Vaccines and Therapeutics , Food and Agriculture on August 10, 2006

Galantamine is an herbal extract from snowdrop flowers that has been shown to be effective in the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease. New research shows that it can also be used as an antidotal therapy to counteract the lethal effects of organophosphorus insecticides and even the most deadly organophosphorus compounds such as soman and sarin, which have been and may again be used as lethal chemical weapons during terrorist attacks.

Animal trials demonstrated that galantamine works prophylactically i.e., subjects animals treated with galantamine and later exposed to lethal doses of soman or sarin survived and showed no signs of the most common symptoms of exposure to nerve agents, such as convulsions, respiratory distress and loss of coordinated movement. Also, treatment with galantamine following exposure has been equally effective.

"This simple and safe antidotal therapy could be added to the arsenal of medications carried by all military members and first responders, who could easily administer it to themselves should they suspect that they've been exposed to a nerve agent. Likewise, this therapy could be used worldwide to save the lives of people who come in contact with toxic levels of organophosphorus insecticides."

Read the full feature story from the University of Maryland Medical Center.