Bush administration rejects purchase of radiation drug

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/16855078.htm

Bush administration rejects purchase of radiation drug
By Greg Gordon
McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON - In another setback to the government's efforts to defend against nuclear or radiological weapons, the Bush administration on Wednesday halted plans to buy a pioneering drug to treat victims of a potential attack.

Department of Health and Human Services officials said that no available product met the government's requirements. The agency had debated for more than a year whether to award a contract for enough medicine to treat up to 100,000 people to a California biotech company. The company says its drug protects bone marrow, the vital blood-forming tissue that's most susceptible to radiation.

The controversial decision drew criticism from members of Congress and was yet another stumble for the Project BioShield program, which was created to stockpile drugs that could limit casualties in a biological, chemical, radiological or nuclear attack.

It also leaves the government with an emergency stockpile of outdated anti-radiation drugs, even as Bush administration officials warn of the mounting threat of a nuclear or "dirty bomb" attack.

In postponing a decision three times since last summer, HHS officials had expressed concerns that the drug, developed by military researchers and licensed to San Diego-based Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals Inc., must be administered within four hours of radiation exposure.

That could limit its use against acute radiation syndrome, the officials said, because first responders are unlikely to be able to reach most victims in a nuclear blast zone for at least 24 hours.

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They did a similar thing with explosives detectors I believe. "Oh they're way too expensive for the American People to have" but was later found to have set them up all over the White House.