The efficacy of a number of bispyridinium compounds, including both oxime and non-oxime derivatives, has been determined against poisoning by sarin, soman, tabun and VX in guinea-pigs receiving various supporting treatments. In conjunction with atropine therapy only, the oximes were effective against sarin and VX poisoning and of them only the 4-substituted oximes were beneficial against tabun poisoning. None of the compounds was effective against poisoning by soman. When the supporting drug treatment consisted of pyridostigmine pretreatment and therapy with atropine and diazepam (this treatment itself gave considerable protection against organophosphate poisoning) both the non-oxime and oxime derivatives increased the protection against all four agents although obidoxime and TMB-4 were not beneficial against soman poisoning. The results are discussed in relation to published studies in which these compounds have been found to be beneficial against soman poisoning in atropine-treated rats and mice. It is suggested that the guinea-pig is a better model for predicting the efficacy of treatments for organophosphate poisoning in primate species.

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