A marine officer of the Cape Ray, a ship equipped to neutralize Syrian chemicals, shows a chemical protection suit to reporters, during a tour around the ship docked at the naval base of Rota used by the U.S, in Spains southwestern coast on Thursday, April 10, 2014. The American ship MV Cape Ray will collect and destroy mustard gas, raw materials for sarin nerve gas and tons of other highly toxic chemicals that form part of Syrias chemical weapons program. If Syria can remove all its ingredients for making poison gas and nerve agent from the country by the end of the month, an ambitious June 30 deadline for destroying the chemicals should be met, a spokesman for the world's chemical weapons watchdog said Thursday.
Kathleen J. Davis was born and raised in the great state of Michigan in a city just north of Detroit. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 2017 with a degree in political science.
As General Assignment Reporter, Kathleen covers a little bit of everything. She also contributes to the Pittsburgh Tech Report and Good Question! series.
Alfonso Perez / AP Photo
A marine officer of the Cape Ray, a ship equipped to neutralize Syrian chemicals, shows a chemical protection suit to reporters, during a tour around the ship docked at the naval base of Rota used by the U.S, in Spains southwestern coast on Thursday, April 10, 2014. The American ship MV Cape Ray will collect and destroy mustard gas, raw materials for sarin nerve gas and tons of other highly toxic chemicals that form part of Syrias chemical weapons program. If Syria can remove all its ingredients for making poison gas and nerve agent from the country by the end of the month, an ambitious June 30 deadline for destroying the chemicals should be met, a spokesman for the world's chemical weapons watchdog said Thursday.
(Undated) — Biotechnology company BioHybrid Solutions, based in Harmar, Pa., is partnering with the U.S. Department of Defense on a countermeasure for chemical agents, such as sarin gas. The $30 million contract will last for five years.
BioHybrid Solutions specializes in making drugs work over a longer period of time by giving them a special polymer outer coating, according to CEO Alan Russell. This double the amount of time a drug works in the body.
The federal government has tasked the company with developing a long-lasting pill that could protect a person against nerve agents used in chemical warfare.
“The hope would certainly be that you can offer enough protection over a few weeks from a single dose,” Russell said.
The U.S. Military distributed a treatment against nerve agents during the 1991 Gulf War, called pyridostigmine bromide, whose side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps.
Russell said BioHybrid Solutions’ polymer coating could largely mitigate a drug’s side effects.
The plan, according to Russell, is to get a usable drug to the Federal Drug Administration for approval within five years.
