Revive Therapeutics Ltd. announced that it has entered into an agreement with Defence R&D Canada - Suffield Research Centre (DRDC), an agency of the Canadian Department of National Defence, to evaluate Bucillamine as a potential treatment for nerve agent exposure. The DRDC will fund the research project, which is expected to begin in early first quarter -2024. DRDC is investigating pharmacological compounds that can mitigate nerve agent induced brain injury.

Recent studies have shown that antioxidant compounds such as n-acetylcysteine (NAC) could be beneficial in limiting seizure activity and improving the anticonvulsant efficacy of GABA-mediating drugs such as diazepam. Bucillamine is a significantly more effective antioxidant than NAC and has the potential to provide increased efficacy against seizure activity while limiting the anticoagulant and bleeding event liability observed with NAC. If promising, further studies will be conducted to facilitate Health Canada approval for the use of Bucillamine in nerve agents or organophosphate pesticide poisoning and potentially begin initial studies for efficacy against mild traumatic brain injury caused by concussive or explosive forces.