# Optimization of a Combined Drug and Delivery Device for Treatment of Cyanide Poisoning

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2020 · $505,514

## Abstract

Principal Investigator/Program Director (Last, First, Middle): Patterson, Steven E.
Project Summary/Abstract
The risk of cyanide use in a terrorist attack resulting in a mass casualties is genuine and cyanide is included on
the Chemical Threat Risk Assessment (CTRA) list. In response the NIH CounterACT charge to develop
effective medical countermeasures, this project is focused on development of an effective drug/device
combination to deliver our rapidly acting antidote, sulfanegen, to victims of cyanide exposure. We have
previously demonstrated that sulfanegen, a novel cyanide antagonist discovered in our labs, (Patterson,
Center for Drug Design) is effective in reversing lethal cyanide toxicity in murine, swine and rabbit models of
cyanide exposure. Our demonstration of sulfanegen’s efficacy includes dose optimization, pharmacokinetics,
species justification, formulation optimization, and safety assessment. In order to furthere develop our
countermeasure, Windgap Medical’s autoinjector design will be customized to accommodate sulfanegen’s
dosing characteristics. The Windgap Medican-Minnesota consortium’s ultimate goals are to 1) obtain an
IND/IDE from the FDA, 2) conduct clinical trials and 3) FDA approval under the animal rule. The focus of this
proposal is therefore on development of an optimized combined autoinjector/sulfanegen lead,
demonstration of this lead’s efficacy and safety in non-GLP studies according to PAR-16-331, and
establish the basis for a later round of funding under BARDA that will allow IND enabling studies.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10006902
- **Project number:** 5U01NS112125-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** STEVEN E PATTERSON
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $505,514
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-15 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10006902

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10006902, Optimization of a Combined Drug and Delivery Device for Treatment of Cyanide Poisoning (5U01NS112125-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10006902. Licensed CC0.

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