Tim Friede, a man from Wisconsin, let snakes bite him 202 times over nearly 20 years to build immunity to their venom. He started this risky experiment to protect himself from his pet snakes, like cobras and mambas, but later wanted to help create a universal antivenom. Scientist Jacob Glanville found Friede online and used his blood, which had special antibodies, to make a new antivenom.
This antivenom, tested on mice, fully protected against venom from 13 snake species and partly against six others. It uses two of Friede’s antibodies and a drug called varespladib. Snakebites kill up to 140,000 people yearly, and current antivenoms are hard to make and species-specific. Friede’s work could lead to a treatment that works for many snakes, but it’s still experimental and needs more testing, starting with dogs in Australia. Friede stopped his snakebite experiments in 2018.
Source: Science News
