“In all animal tests, midazolam was twice as potent and more rapidly acting than diazepam," concluded a 2002 report prepared by the US Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense, “thus minimizing the possibility of seizure-induced brain damage." In 2012, the government funded a clinical trial that supported those findings in human patients suffering epileptic seizures. Midazolam emerged in the 1990s and 2000s as a potential improvement. However, for years scientists have suspected that diazepam might not be the best anticonvulsant for the job, and recent tests on rodents and primates reinforced those suspicions. Diazepam-better known as Valium-is used as an anticonvulsant to stop seizures and protect the brain.įor decades, the US military has supplied soldiers with autoinjectors filled with the three drugs, and the government also includes them in the Strategic National Stockpile’s “chempacks"-emergency kits distributed to about 1,960 emergency rooms and fire stations at 1,340 locations around the country. Atropine and 2-pam are effective at stripping the nerve agents from the enzymes, restoring their proper function. The three drugs currently used in treatment–atropine, diazepam, and 2-pam–do different jobs. The seizures can also cause significant neurological damage. This leads to seizures and can stop a person from breathing. Nerve gases block enzymes in the body that regulate muscle control. Although it’s still awaiting FDA approval for use as a nerve gas antidote, it’s far enough along in the development phase that the government could request emergency approval to distribute the drug in the event of a crisis. The “new" antidote is an old drug–midazolam-the same, powerful sedative used in everything from anesthesia to lethal injection. ALSO READ : Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Syria airbase influenced by Ivanka: Report
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