For example, in 1942, British bioweapons trials severely contaminated Gruinard Island in Scotland with anthrax spores of the Vollum-14578 strain, making it a no-go area until it was decontaminated in 1990. The Gruinard trials involved testing the effectiveness of a submunition of an "N-bomb" –  a biological weapon containing dried anthrax spores. Additionally, five million "cattle cakes" (animal feed pellets impregnated with anthrax spores) were prepared and stored at Porton Down for "Operation Vegetarian" –  anti livestock attacks against Germany to be made by the Royal Air Force. The plan was for anthrax-based biological weapons to be dropped on Germany in 1944. However, the edible cattle cakes and the bomb were not used; the cattle cakes were incinerated in late 1945. Weaponized anthrax was part of the US stockpile prior to 1972, when the United States signed the Biological Weapons Convention. President Nixon ordered the dismantling of US biowarfare programs in 1969 and the destruction of all existing stockpiles of bioweapons. In 1978–79, the Rhodesian government used anthrax against cattle and humans during its campaign against rebels. The Soviet Union created and stored 100 to 200 tons of anthrax spores at Kantubek on Vozrozhdeniya Island; they were abandoned in 1992 and destroyed in 2002.American military and British Army personnel are no longer routinely vaccinated against anthrax prior to active service in places where biological attacks are considered a threat.
Larotrectinib, sold under the brand name Vitrakvi, is a medication for the treatment of cancer. It is an inhibitor of tropomyosin kinase receptors TrkA, TrkB, and TrkC. It was discovered by Array BioPharma and licensed to Loxo Oncology in 2013. Larotrectinib was initially awarded orphan drug status in 2015, for soft tissue sarcoma, and breakthrough therapy designation in 2016 for the treatment of metastatic solid tumors with NTRK fusion. Some clinical trial results were announced in 2017. On 26 November 2018, Larotrectinib was approved by the FDA.Larotrectinib was the first drug to be specifically developed and approved to treat any cancer containing certain mutations, as opposed to cancers of specific tissues (i.e., the approval is "tissue agnostic"). Several earlier drugs, including pembrolizumab, were eventually approved by the FDA for treatment of specific mutations independent of the type of cancer, but those drugs had been initially developed for specific cancer types. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers it to be a first-in-class medication.Phase II clinical trials evaluating the drug for efficacy and safety in treating several types of solid tumors are ongoing.Larotrectinib was approved for medical use in the European Union in September 2019. It was approved for medical use in Australia in August 2020. References
External links
"Larotrectinib". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine. "Larotrectinib sulfate". National Cancer Institute. "Larotrectinib sulfate". NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms. National Cancer Institute.