How Scary Is It?

NUCLEAR BOMB RADIATION DRUG HAS POTENTIAL

An investigational drug designed to protect against radiation caused by a nuclear bomb has shown promise in a pilot study involving non-human primates, according to San Diego-based Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals, the drug's developer. Hollis-Eden said its regulating hormone HE2100 would protect most people outside the immediate point of explosion from death and hospitalization. When the drug is given 24 hours before or two to four hours after radiation exposure, there is a significant reduction in neutropenia (a severe loss of white blood cells), the company said. The company will conduct a larger, late-stage trial and, if the results are positive and the drug gets FDA approval, the drug could be available to the public by 2004.

This is scary, okay? (At least, for those of us who remember the "duck and cover" days, it's scary.)