Researchers inching closer to cheaper antivenom
A group of researchers identified the exact composition of sea snake venom, which is a step toward creating synthetic antivenom. Sea snake venom currently costs US$2000. On the other hand, synthetic venom, if produced, will cost around US$10 to US$100.
“People in poor countries, including fishermen at work and children playing in the ocean, are bitten, but they can’t afford the antivenom and so they die. They die because it is extremely expensive, not because they cannot be saved. If we could design and synthesize simple antivenoms, producing them would be inexpensive and thus millions of lives could be saved,” says Associate Professor Brian Lohse from Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen—one of the institutions involved in the research.
Researchers dissected the sea snake venom to identify its lethal contents. This was the venom of choice, probably, because its composition is simpler than the venom from the Mamba or the Cobra.
“This indicates that we could actually develop a synthetic antivenom that might also be used against other sea snake venoms, because of overlapping toxins and the close homology across species. Furthermore, such antivenom would be shelf-stable and would eliminate the cold-chain (constant refrigeration), which is a highly negative factor in terms of storing current antivenoms,” says Professor Lohse.
Loshe is also concerned about the current state of antivenom testing, involving testing it on animals. He hopes to continue with this research so animal testing would no longer be needed.
“We are determined to continue this international research collaboration whereby we avoid using animals (e.g. horses) in the production of antivenom. We wish to make clean antivenoms by using state-of-the-art biotechnology, hopefully making synthetic antivenom available to all one day,” Lohse concludes.
