The fear of snakes is prevalent in the world due to their fatal nature. Surprisingly, a man named Tom Friede rose above this fear as he voluntarily let the 200 deadly snakes bite him for almost 20 years.
Now, the Wisconsin man has become a medical wonder and now he is immune to a variety of lethal snakes including king cobras, tiger snakes, and black mambas.
Friede’s unprecedented immunity to deadly venom can pave the way towards revolutionary antivenom drugs for snakebites by using his impressive antitoxin antibodies.
According to the findings published in the journal Cell, by combining two of Friede's antibodies (called LNX-D09 and SNX-B03) with a venom-blocking drug called varespladib, the Centivax, biotech company, has achieved a breakthrough.
Researchers have developed full protection against 13 species and partial protection for another 6 species after testing it on the mice.
The next trial will be conducted in Australia on dogs suffering from snake bite injuries.
The CEO of Centivax, Jacob Glanville, said, “What was exciting about the donor was his once-in-a-lifetime unique immune history. Not only did he potentially create these broadly neutralizing antibodies, in this case, it could give rise to a broad-spectrum or universal antivenom.”
Scientists are also striving hard to develop a cocktail from antibodies that will provide broad-spectrum protection against venom from the viperids.