But there are so many strains of the flu, and it mutates so quickly. We’ve wanted universal flu vaccines for ages, of course. Researchers are now trying to use a similar technique for a universal flu vaccine. On another serious medical note, we’ve all seen the power of the mRNA technology with the COVID vaccines. RACHEL FELTMAN: Yep, and hope we never need them. IRA FLATOW: Yeah, then we’ll just stockpile them. And if they get up to the maximum dose, then that is great information about our ability to use these drugs in humans. So now we have this drug that’s shown quite good efficacy in nonhuman animals, and so basically a few dozen healthy participants are going to go on higher and higher doses of the drug. You can’t dose a human with plutonium just to make sure it works. Kind of the point of them was saying that, from now on, drugs in this category will be tested for their efficacy in nonhuman animals, and then they’ll only have to prove their safety in humans, which, again, is something you have to do when a drug just cannot be tested ethically on a human. And that was why the FDA put out those guidelines. IRA FLATOW: But how do you do a trial of something like this? You can’t expose people to plutonium and see what happens, can you? So while that new set of guidelines from the FDA is still pending, this new trial is definitely part of that wave of enthusiasm. We want to find more options that prevent acute radiation syndrome, which is the very severe illness that can happen when you’re exposed to ionizing radiation.Īnd they said we really need things that are easier to stockpile, like oral pills, and we need to fast track those. And recently, in a move that I found a little existentially nauseating personally, the FDA said we really need more drugs to combat radioactive contamination. RACHEL FELTMAN: Yeah, so right now, there are a couple of options that serve to basically pull radiation from the body right after contamination, but they’re both administered by IV. OK, tell me more about this radiation– potential radiation treatment. RACHEL FELTMAN: Thanks for having me, Ira. Joining me now to talk about that other stories from the week in science is Rachel Feltman, editor at large at Popular Science. This week, though, the NIH announced the start of an early clinical trial for an oral drug that could potentially be used to bind and remove radioactive elements, like plutonium, uranium, neptunium, from the body. Iodine pills can be used to help block radioactive iodine isotopes from being absorbed by the thyroid, but there aren’t many other drugs that can help deal with contamination from radioactive materials. But first, with some poisons, there’s an antidote, something you can take to block the effects of the poison or to help clean it from your body.īut when the harmful chemical is a radioactive element, options are limited. Later in the hour, a look at some of the scientific misconceptions around weight and health and a case of a crow conundrum in Baltimore. Rachel Feltman, editor at large at Popular Science, joins Ira to talk about that trial and other stories from the week in science, including an experimental universal flu vaccine, research into the amount of trace DNA humans shed every day, and an update on the planet Saturn’s moon count. This week, the NIH announced the start of an early clinical trial for an oral drug delivered as a tablet that could potentially be used to bind and remove radioactive elements including plutonium, uranium and neptunium from the body. One of the two existing medications can only be delivered via IV in a clinic. Iodine pills can be used to help block radioactive iodine I131 from being absorbed by the thyroid, but there aren’t many other drugs that can help deal with contamination with other radioactive substances. But when the harmful chemical is a radioactive element, options are limited. With some poisons, there’s an antidote-something you can take to block the effects of the poison, or to help remove it from your body.
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