Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
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Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#2It's unclear to me how much damage the pill prevents versus simply delaying it. I didn't see any clear statements on that in the article and there are a few quotes like, "intended to at least buy victims enough time to get to the hospital."
If victims still need anti-venom to prevent serious injury then the drug is much less exciting. As the article points out anti-venom treatments are expensive, unreliable, and hard to access; in other words not that great. Having more time to reach that treatment is better than nothing but is hardly world changing. Also, maybe I overly cynical, but I'm skeptical that this medicine will be affordable and accessible to most of the people in poor rural communities that make up the bulk of dangerous bite victims.
I do a lot of hiking and, like many folks who do the same, have been within reach of venomous snakes more times than I can count. A pill that can prevent serious damage from a bite would be huge; if it's effective and accessible.
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#3It's unclear to me how much damage the pill prevents versus simply delaying it. I didn't see any clear statements on that in the article and there are a few quotes like, "intended to at least buy victims enough time to get to the hospital." If victims still need anti-venom to prevent serious injury then the drug is much less exciting. As the article points out anti-venom treatments are expensive, unreliable, and hard…
Delaying is already massive seeing as you often cant take anti-venom with you due to refrigeration needs. That delay is likely enough to get you to a clinic.
For the cost aspects, as India has shown life saving generics for people who couldnt afford it anyway are always an option.
edit: Its also worth mentioning that the "accessible by drone" aspect to reduce treatment times is rarely possible in the rain forests where such bites often occur.
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#4It's unclear to me how much damage the pill prevents versus simply delaying it. I didn't see any clear statements on that in the article and there are a few quotes like, "intended to at least buy victims enough time to get to the hospital." If victims still need anti-venom to prevent serious injury then the drug is much less exciting. As the article points out anti-venom treatments are expensive, unreliable, and hard…
I didn't see any claims of it being a cure, but I think it still has the ability to be "world changing" for all those who are in need, much the same as a tourniquet doesn't fix loss of limb but can easily save a life when time is the deciding factor.
I found more information about the active ingredient (cited in the article) on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varespladib
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#5For more comprehensive history/theory of Varespladib for snakebites, check out "Varespladib in the Treatment of Snakebite Envenoming: Development History and Preclinical Evidence Supporting Advancement to Clinical Trials in Patients Bitten by Venomous Snakes" (2022)[0] by the same Dr. Lewin this article is about. There's some interesting discussion of prior research in pigs where oral Varespladib is lifesaving for much longer time spans than injected antivenom, and a ton of somewhat-comprehensible cited sources.
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#6It's unclear to me how much damage the pill prevents versus simply delaying it. I didn't see any clear statements on that in the article and there are a few quotes like, "intended to at least buy victims enough time to get to the hospital." If victims still need anti-venom to prevent serious injury then the drug is much less exciting. As the article points out anti-venom treatments are expensive, unreliable, and hard…
I didn't see any claims of it being a cure, but I think it still has the ability to be "world changing" for all those who are in need, much the same as a tourniquet doesn't fix loss of limb but can easily save a life when time is the deciding factor. I found more information about the active ingredient (cited in the article) on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varespladib
Seems like it'd be pretty useful if it turned out to be cheap enough to stock in first aid kits and medicine cabinets around the world.
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#7> Drug trials are being conducted by Ophirex Inc. — a public benefit corporation that Lewin founded with musician and entrepreneur Jerry Harrison in Corte Madera, Calif.
How common is it for a pharmaceutical company to be a public benefit corporation?
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#8Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#9Why don't we do with (problem) snakes what we do with the mosquito, specifically releasing either a) irradiated males who are sterile that produce offspring that do not hatch, or b) males with an installed gene drive that can only sire males for all future generations?
Either case results in a population crash. I don't know if gene drives have been used against wild populations as yet (although there is great interest and substantial justification).
Re: Can a pill prevent deaths from venomous snakebites?
#10Why don't we do with (problem) snakes what we do with the mosquito, specifically releasing either a) irradiated males who are sterile that produce offspring that do not hatch, or b) males with an installed gene drive that can only sire males for all future generations? Either case results in a population crash. I don't know if gene drives have been used against wild populations as yet (although there is great interes…
Aside from being carriers of disease, mosquitoes have been identified as fulfilling an insignificant biological niche. My knee jerk suspicion is that snakes are more important to an ecosystem.