WASHINGTON (TND) — The US Department of Health and Human Services said it has purchased $290 million for a drug supply "as part of long-standing, ongoing efforts to be better prepared to save lives following radiological and nuclear emergencies."
HHS made the announcement on Tuesday, saying the drug is called "Nplate."
Nplate is approved to treat blood cell injuries that accompany acute radiation syndrome in adult and pediatric patients," according to a news release.
HHS said the agency bought the supply from Amgen USA Inc., which is based in California. The drug, said HHS, stimulates the production of platelets and helps reduce radiation-induced bleeding.
Amgen will maintain this supply in vendor-managed inventory," the release noted. "This approach decreases life-cycle management costs for taxpayers because doses that near expiration can be rotated into the commercial market for rapid use prior to expiry and new doses can be added to the government supply."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines acute radiation syndrome, which is also known as radiation toxicity or radiation sickness, as an illness caused by irradiation of the entire body or most of the body by "a high dose of penetrating radiation in a very short period of time."
Sometimes, it's only a matter of seconds or minutes.
The CDC said the "major cause of this syndrome is depletion of immature parenchymal stem cells in specific tissues. Examples of people who suffered from ARS are the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs, the firefighters that first responded after the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant event in 1986, and some unintentional exposures to sterilization irradiators."
HHS said symptoms include impaired blood clotting, which causes the potential for uncontrolled and life-threatening bleeding.
The news comes in the wake of nuclear war threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
I want to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction … and when the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal," Putin said Sept. 21. "It's not a bluff.
The Associated Press on Thursday reported that President Joe Biden said the risk of nuclear "Armageddon" is at the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russian officials speak of the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in the eight-month invasion of Ukraine.
Biden said Putin is "not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons."
