Global Biodefense  October 12, 2021 Chemical weapon nerve agents like Sarin or Novichok typically function by blocking the transmission of messages from the central nervous system to the peripheral nervous system, which controls many processes, including respiration. Historically countermeasures cannot cross the blood-brain barrier, and only protect against damage to the peripheral nervous system. After laboratory and computational testing, a team of researchers in the US (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD) ) has a compound called “LLNL-02” that protects both the central and peripheral nervous systems against the effects of the nerve agent […]