Man’s Snake Venom Injections Could Lead to Universal Antivenom
For 18 years, Tim fried, a 57-year-old former truck mechanic, has been deliberately injecting himself with snake venom in an effort that may lead to a universal antivenom. His unusual self-experimentation has drawn the attention of biotechnology researchers seeking a broader defense against deadly snakebites.
The Experiment
Fried began his endeavor with the goal of building immunity to snake venom after handling snakes. He subjected himself to bites from some of the world’s most dangerous snakes, including cobras, black mambas, and taipans. Initially, a pair of Egyptian cobra bites put him in a coma. Despite the risks, Fried persisted, driven by the potential to contribute to the development of life-saving therapeutics.
over nearly two decades, Fried estimates he has been bitten more than 200 times and administered venom from over 700 snakes.
global Snakebite Crisis
Snakebites are a significant global health problem, with more than 400,000 incidents occurring annually, primarily in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. These incidents often result in amputations, blindness, and debilitating ulcers. The World Health Organization estimates that snakebites cause approximately 140,000 deaths each year.
The complexity of snake venom poses a significant challenge to treatment. With 650 known species of venomous snakes,and variations in venom composition even within the same species depending on geographic location,administering the correct antivenom can be difficult,leading to severe and lasting health consequences.
Biotech Intervention
In 2017, Senti Biosciences CEO Jacob Glanville learned of Fried’s story through a newspaper article. Intrigued, Glanville contacted fried and proposed a collaboration to develop broadly effective antibodies against various snake venoms using Fried’s blood.
The approach targets common elements across different snake venoms, aiming to create a universal antivenom. “Snake’s poison is different for each species,so both detoxifications should be different,but if you target all the parts that are common to all snakes,you can develop an extensively used antidote,” Glanville said.
Promising Results
Glanville’s research team extracted antibodies from Fried’s blood and conducted animal experiments, which showed promising results against a range of venoms. In mouse studies, an antivenom cocktail based on Fried’s blood demonstrated complete effectiveness against 13 of 19 elapid snake venoms tested – elapids include cobras – classified by the WHO as among the world’s deadliest.The cocktail showed partial effectiveness (20-40%) against the other six.
“It is unprecedented,” Glanville said of the results. “There is a possibility of being effective for the elapid’s poison without an antidote.”
Future Research
While further research and clinical trials are necessary before the antivenom can be commercialized, the findings offer hope for saving countless lives. Researchers plan to develop two primary antivenom cocktails targeting elapid and viperid snake venoms.
“I think I have been waiting for this,” Fried said of the collaboration.
The findings were published in the journal Cell.
