As a result of research performed by scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of a drug to treat the deleterious effects of radiation exposure following a nuclear incident. The drug, Neulasta®, is one of a very small number that have been approved for the treatment of acute radiation injury.
The research was done by Thomas J. MacVittie, PhD, professor, and Kim Hankey, PhD, Study Director, both in the Preclinical Radiobiology Laboratory at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology’s Division of Translational Radiation Sciences (DTRS). The investigators did their research in a non-human clinical model of high-dose radiation. Ann M. Farese, MA, MS, assistant professor in the same lab and department, also contributed to the work.