Nicole Lurie, HHS assistant secretary, applauded the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the U.S.' first anthrax anti-toxin.

Lurie called the approval “a monumental step forward” in preparing for the health effects of bioterrorism, in an HHS news release.

The FDA approval of the injectable anti-toxin, developed under the federal government's biodefense program Project Bioshield, will give people exposed to inhaled anthrax a treatment designed to limit the symptoms, according to the release. Antibiotics, which are used to treat the infection, do not limit the symptoms, according to the release.

The drug, called Raxibacumab, was developed by Human Genome Sciences, a GlaxoSmithKline company, in conjunction with HHS' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, according to the FDA.