UNSPSC 51172339: Sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate

A medication used as an antidote in cases of cyanide poisoning. Thiosulfate acts as a sulfur donor to produce the conversion of cyanide to thiocyanate, which can then be safely excreted through urine, that conversion is catalyzed by the enzyme rhodamine (rhodanase). It has also been used as a treatment for calciphylaxis in patients undergoing hemodialysis, who have chronic kidney disease. It is also used in the management of extravasation of urine in chemotherapy.

Sodium thiosulfate prevents alkylation and tissue destruction, providing a substrate for the alkylating agents that have invaded the subcutaneous tissues. It is also used in foot baths for the prophylaxis of dermatophytosis and as a topical antifungal agent for Pityriasis versicolor.

UNSPSC 51172339 Sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate is a Commodity code that nominally describes a single chemical compound, but recent state and local procurement activity shows no actual purchase solicitations for sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate itself. The three most recent opportunities tagged to this code involve offender drug testing services (Collin County Community Supervision and Corrections Department), a pharmacy benefit program information-gathering initiative (Texas Health and Human Services Commission), and generic pharmaceutical procurement through cooperative purchasing (Minnesota Multistate Cooperative Purchasing Alliance serving state and local government facilities). None of these solicitations request sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate as a line item or consumable. The mismatch between the code's nominal scope and the actual work being procured suggests either a data-classification error in the issuing bodies' tagging systems or that the code is being used as a catch-all placeholder for broader pharmaceutical and testing services that do not map cleanly to specific chemical commodity codes.

With no relevant recent opportunities for the chemical product itself, this code shows negligible activity in current state and local procurement. Vendors targeting sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate sales to state and local governments should monitor whether classification practices improve or whether procurement volume emerges under this code; at present, opportunities in water treatment, laboratory supplies, or photographic chemistry — the primary industrial uses for sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate — do not appear in the recent state and local contracting record under this designation.