Anthrax immune globulin, tradename Anthrasil, is a human immune globulin that is used in combination with antibiotics to treat anthrax. It was developed by Cangene and purchased in 2011 by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) under Project Bioshield. On 24 March 2015 it was granted approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration for use in treating inhalation anthrax in conjunction with antibiotics. Preparation
Anthrax immune globulin is prepared from the plasma of donors who have been vaccinated against anthrax. Safety and efficacy testing
Due to the ethical and feasibility concerns with testing the efficacy of anthrax immune globulin in humans, it was tested in rabbits and monkeys under the FDAs animal efficacy rule. Following efficacy testing, anthrax immune globulin was tested for safety in human volunteers, where the most common side effects were headache, back pain, nausea and infusion site pain and swelling. == References ==
Ziconotide (SNX–111; Prialt), also called intrathecal ziconotide (ITZ) because of its administration route, is an atypical analgesic agent for the amelioration of severe and chronic pain. Derived from Conus magus, a cone snail, it is the synthetic form of an ω-conotoxin peptide. It is 1,000 times as powerful as morphine.In December 2004 the Food and Drug Administration approved ziconotide when delivered as an infusion into the cerebrospinal fluid using an intrathecal pump system. Discovery
Ziconotide is derived from the toxin of the cone snail species Conus magus. Scientists have been intrigued by the effects of the thousands of chemicals in marine snail toxins since the initial investigations in the late 1960s by Baldomero Olivera. Olivera, now a professor of biology in the University of Utah, was inspired by accounts of the deadly effects of these toxins from his childhood in the Philippines. Ziconotide was discovered in the early 1980s by University of Utah research scientist Michael McIntosh, when he was barely out of high school and working with Baldomero Olivera.Ziconotide was developed into an artificially manufactured drug by Elan Corporation. It was approved for sale under the name Prialt by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on December 28, 2004, and by the European Commission on February 22, 2005. Azur Pharma acquired worldwide rights (except Europe) to Prialt in 2010. Mechanism of action
Ziconotide is a hydrophilic molecule that is freely soluble in water and is practically insoluble in methyl t-butyl ether. Ziconotide acts as a selective N-type voltage-gated calcium channel blocker.