Ukraine Orders Antidote to Chemical Weapon

The humanitarian organization Direct Relief said it has fulfilled a request from Ukraine’s Ministry of Health for some 220,000 vials of a drug that can be used to mitigate the effects of a chemical weapon.

The drug, called atropine, can raise heart rates and help reduce mucus secretions in a person’s lungs or airway. It can halt the effects of poisoning from certain nerve agents if deployed quickly enough.

Direct Relief previously distributed the drug to Syrian medical workers after they came under attack in 2017 from the nerve gas sarin and other chemical agents.

“Direct Relief is sending this medication with the unmitigated hope that an attack warranting its use never occurs,” said Alycia Clark, Direct Relief’s director of pharmacy and clinical affairs. The organization said it sent the shipment to Ukraine earlier this week from its pharmaceutical warehouse in Santa Barbara, Calif.

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