The name, meaning “newcomer”, refers to a group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s to elude international restrictions on chemical weapons. Treatment for novichok exposure would be the same as for other nerve agents, with atropine, diazepam and drugs called oximes. The chemical structures of the main weaponised novichok agents were made public in 2008 by Vil Mirzayanov, a former Russian scientist living in the US, but the structures have never been publicly confirmed. This means that labs do not have to build stockpiles of ready-made nerve agents but can mix them up from unrestricted chemicals as and when needed. According to Mirzayanov, the most potent of the agents are 10 to 100 times more toxic than the conventional nerve agents.

Source: The Guardian March 13, 2018 12:45 UTC