Mr. Michael Mesa, President and CEO at Mesa Science Associates Inc. (MSA) announced today that MSA was a sponsor and participant at the 13th annual NIH Counter ACT meeting held on June 18-20 at the New York Academy of Sciences. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the latest research aimed treating threats from chemical and biological agents. The biological threat agents include anthrax, smallpox as well as emerging newer toxins. The chemical threats include vesicants such as mustard and chlorine gases, nerve agents including sarin and VX, and respiratory depressants such as cyanide.
For the last several years MSA has collaborated on a cyanide project with researchers from the University of California and provided a co-investigator for an NIH grant awarded to Dr. Gerry Boss at the University of California, San Diego. The Grant (U01 NS105057), has allowed Dr. Boss to direct his research towards developing new antidotes to cyanide poisoning. In addition to it’s potential as a chemical threat agent, cyanide is also produced in residential and commercial fires and is a lethal component associated with smoke inhalation. MSA Associates, Ken Dretchen PhD, Matt Robben PhD and Michael Mesa were co-authors on a paper demonstrating the results from the past years research. MSA co-authors were listed on the paper and an associated poster by co-authors from the University of Colorado, The University of California Irvine, the University of Colorado and SRI international. The paper, presented by Dr Boss, was entitled “Sodium Tetrathionate as a Cyanide Antidote”. The scientific report demonstrated that the proposed drug is capable of immediately reversing respiratory depression associated with cyanide intoxication in several different animal species and at a dose which should be safe and effective in humans. The results of this study will be the basis of future discussions with the Food and Drug Administration regarding advancing this drug product to the next stage of development.
In addition, Dr. Matt Robben from MSA presented a paper at the meeting entitled “Drug Product Formulations: Planning Efficient Formulation Transition from Discovery to First Human Trials”. The paper was extremely well received as it provided valuable advice to the attendees on how to overcome drug formulation issues associated with transitioning a potential medical countermeasure product from the discovery stage to pre-clinical trials and ultimately to human clinical trials.
Mesa Science Associates Inc is located inside the Frederick Innovation and Technology Center at 4539 Metropolitan Ct. in Frederick Md.
