RESEARCH FOR FILM - Creating a chemical cocktail that could block a nerve agent

[Ashley Matt]

Hi Science Forum friends,

 

I'm Ashley, an independent feature film producer, director and writer.  I'm making my third feature film that involves a chemical engineer turned spy who is trying to evade assassination (she's expecting to be taken out by a nerve agent).  Sounds dramatic, I know - but I suppose noir psychological spy thrillers should be a bit dramatic, right?

As it stands I've written some material that sees my spy collecting drugs from a pharmacy, including naloxone, to mix with an unidentified chemical compound given to her by her spy ring leader.  The idea is she administers the cocktail to herself (dropping a few drops in her coffee every day) as a method of blocking the attack (she doesn't know when it will happen).  I'm no chemical engineer and I'm not sure there is even such a possibility.

I wonder if the beautiful hive mind of scienceforums.net would be able to help me understand this, or guide me in a somewhat plausible direction.  Like which over the counter drugs, mixed or unmixed, could act as a nerve agent (let's say like Novichok) blocker - something that could be taken in advance.  Further to that, how would you mix them to create the blocker.  

A tall order I'm sure...but I'm curious.  I'd like to meet science halfway in my drama - to at least make an attempt at realism.

 

Thank you everyone for your time and consideration.  It means a lot to this indie movie maker!

 

Ashley

 

 

 

 

[StringJunky]

Quote

Effects

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The use of a fast-acting peripheral anticholinergic drug such as atropine can block the receptors where acetylcholine acts to prevent poisoning (as in the treatment for poisoning by other acetylcholinesterase inhibitors). Atropine, however, is difficult to administer safely, because its effective dose for nerve agent poisoning is close to the dose at which patients suffer severe side effects, such as changes in heart rate and thickening of the bronchial secretions, which fill the lungs of someone suffering nerve agent poisoning so that suctioning of these secretions, and other advanced life support techniques, may be necessary in addition to administration of atropine to treat nerve agent poisoning.[69]

In the treatment of nerve agent poisoning, atropine is most often administered along with a Hagedorn oxime such as pralidoxime, obidoxime, TMB-4, or HI-6, which reactivates acetylcholinesterase which has been inactivated by phosphorylation by an organophosphorus nerve agent and relieves the respiratory muscle paralysis caused by some nerve agents. Pralidoxime is not effective in reactivating acetylcholinesterase inhibited by some older nerve agents such as soman[69] or the Novichok nerve agents, described in the literature as being up to eight times more toxic than nerve agent VX.[55] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novichok_agent

Maybe you could spin something from this.

[Ashley Matt]

26 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

Maybe you could spin something from this.

Thank you StringJunky for the note.  This could prove useful. 

[BabcockHall]

I would say that the oxime-based reactivating compounds are better candidates for something to take ahead of time than atropine is, based on the passage that String Junky quoted.  However when I read about this a few months ago, it seemed to me that oxime-based compounds differ in how effective each one is, and that the most effective one for nerve agent X might not be the most effective for nerve agent Y.