The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new anthrax treatment that helps fight infection in patients who have already started showing symptoms — a phase that usually signals the disease has become deadly, NBC News reported Wednesday. The drug, called Anthracil, has been in the U.S. counter-terrorism stockpile since 2011, but its FDA approval means Anthracil no longer requires emergency authorization to be used. Anthrax is usually deadly by the time a victim exhibits symptoms, as the bacteria can pump out toxins faster than the body can fight them off. Anthracil fights the anthrax toxin by introducing antibodies that boost the body's immune system response.
