SKIRMISHER

Say you’ve captured a Nazi — which is still totally possible because Nazis live a thousand years, you know — and the bugger suddenly bites a cyanide pill. Now you can keep him alive — to be killed at your most convenient time — with the recently discovered fast-acting cyanide antidote sulfanagen.

Current cyanide antidotes work slowly and are ineffective when administered after a certain point, said Steven Patterson, Ph.D., principal investigator and associate director of the University of the Minnesota Center for Drug Design.

Patterson is developing an antidote that was discovered by retired University of Minnesota Professor Herbert Nagasawa. This antidote works in less than three minutes — meeting the United States Department of Defense “three minute solution” standard. The research will be featured in the Dec. 27, 2007 issue of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

“It’s much, much faster than current antidotes,” Patterson said. “The antidote is also effective over a wider time window. Giving emergency responders more time is important because it’s not likely that someone will be exposed to cyanide near a paramedic.”

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