Written question asked by Jim Murphy (Labour) on Tuesday, 24 April 2012, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 26 April 2012. It was answered by Lord Robathan (Conservative) on Monday, 30 April 2012 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Chemical Weapons

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the tablets in nerve agent pre-treatment sets in dealing with soman and sarin.

Answer: Drug trials on pyridostigmine bromide, which is the active ingredient in Nerve Agent Pre-treatment Sets (NAPS), have shown it to provide effective protection against both soman and sarin nerve agents. Pyridostigmine bromide was selected as the active element in NAPS because it remains effective for a prolonged period (eight hours), and was listed in the British Pharmacopoeia as an existing drug with a long history of clinical use and safety. Compared with the UK's previous treatment, clinical trials indicated that NAPS gave significantly increased protection against all nerve agents when used in combination with post-exposure therapy.

Secondary information