US buys $290 million in anti-radiation drugs amid Putin’s nuke threats
The Biden administration bought $290 million of anti-radiation drugs this week as the president warned of “the prospect of Armageddon” being sparked by warmongering Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed that the major supply of Nplate was part of “ongoing efforts to be better prepared to save lives following radiological and nuclear emergencies.”
The drug — which can be used on kids as well as adults — is “approved to treat blood cell injuries that accompany acute radiation syndrome [ARS] in adult and pediatric patients,” the department said in Tuesday’s announcement.
Such radiation sickness “occurs when a person’s entire body is exposed to a high dose of penetrating radiation, reaching internal organs in a matter of seconds,” the alarming HHS release noted.
“Symptoms of ARS injuries include impaired blood clotting as a result of low platelet counts, which can lead to uncontrolled and life-threatening bleeding.”
Nplate, made by California-based Amgen, stimulates the body’s production of platelets “to reduce radiation-induced bleeding.”
The $290 million funding came from Project BioShield, the 2004 law that provides investment that encourages companies to “develop the medical countermeasures that are critical to national security.”
The initial announcement did not detail how — or where — the drug would be distributed.
An HHS spokesperson insisted that the investment was part of “ongoing” nuclear prep, and had “not been accelerated by the situation in Ukraine.”
However, it was approved just days before President Biden publicly admitted that Putin was “not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons.”
“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since [President John F.] Kennedy and the [October 1962] Cuban Missile Crisis,” the president warned during a New York fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Putin has threatened to turn to nuclear warfare over the last several months as his efforts to overpower Ukraine fail. Last month, he said the Kremlin would “certainly use all the means at our disposal” to protect the country.
