What is Anti-Venom?
Anti-Venom is a processed solution that is used for treatments of snake bites.
How to Make Anti-Venom
Step 1: Extract Venom/ Milking the Venom
This is the most dangerous step and requires exceptional reflexes. A vial must be prepared by covering it with a plastic film. You have to remove the snake from where its being kept and transfer it to a milking room. The snake must be carefully taken by the neck and wait for the snake to strike on the vial. With the snake biting on the vial, the glands should be gently squeezed to get the most venom.
Anti-Venom is a processed solution that is used for treatments of snake bites.
How to Make Anti-Venom
Step 1: Extract Venom/ Milking the Venom
This is the most dangerous step and requires exceptional reflexes. A vial must be prepared by covering it with a plastic film. You have to remove the snake from where its being kept and transfer it to a milking room. The snake must be carefully taken by the neck and wait for the snake to strike on the vial. With the snake biting on the vial, the glands should be gently squeezed to get the most venom.
Step 2: Labeling and Refrigerating
Once you have successfully milked the venom, the hardest and toughest part is over. The venom must be cooled to below 20 degrees Celsius. This will concentrates the venom and removes the water. When labeling the venom, its important to note the snake's species, geographical location, and the age. The older a snake, the more potent its venom as suppose to a younger snake.
Step 3: Choosing a Horse or Another Host for Immunization
Most commonly horses are used to create antibodies, but other animals have been used: sharks, cats, rabbit, camels. Horses are ideally used due to their body mass and less resistant to fight off a needle.
Step 4: Immunizing
The venom at this time should be prepared for injection by adding distilled water or buffer solution. A few milliliters should be injected in the horse and should be given to various locations to prevent any reactions at the site of injection. The antibodies in the horse's blood usually peak at 10 weeks at which point the horse will be ready for extraction. The jugular vein is usually drained for about 4-8 liters of blood.
Step 5: Purifying
This process is usually the longest and require a lot of small details. A centrifuge is usually use to filter the plasma. An enzyme is used to break down the antibodies into smaller parts. Once you have gone through the whole process, the anti-venom must be approved by the FDA which could take up to 10 years!!! As of right now CroFab is the only FDA approved anti-venom produced currently in the United States.
Step 6: Ready for Use
After the FDA has approved the anti-venom, it is ready to be used. The anti-venom must be refrigerated at all times for it to be efficient and effective. When shipped out to different regions, the vials are frozen. If administered properly in a victim of snake bite, the antibodies should bind to the venom and neutralize its effects.
Availability of Anti-Venom
Having access to anti-venom is not as high as we would like. There are various reasons for this. It is a long process of making anti-venom and getting the approval from FDA. There can be complication along the way. If the snake handler is bitten in the process, anti-venom will be required unless the person has been building up immunity by injecting themselves. This would be a step backwards in the process, that's one less anti-venom available.
The cost of preparing and making anti-venom is surprising high. A vial of CroFab cost $1600. It would not be bad if one vial could neutralize the toxin, but instead on average a person needs 20-25 vials. That's $32,000 per snake bite! Some snakes are known for delivering multiple bites such as the black mamba. Multiplying $32,000 by the number of snake bites adds up really quick.
Most of the deadliest snakes in the world are in the third world countries such as Africa, which in turn leads to the majority of snake bites. Electricity in third world countries is unreliable, making the anti-venom vials useless.
Although the FDA will never approve of Haast's method, his methods saved at least 21 people.
Once you have successfully milked the venom, the hardest and toughest part is over. The venom must be cooled to below 20 degrees Celsius. This will concentrates the venom and removes the water. When labeling the venom, its important to note the snake's species, geographical location, and the age. The older a snake, the more potent its venom as suppose to a younger snake.
Step 3: Choosing a Horse or Another Host for Immunization
Most commonly horses are used to create antibodies, but other animals have been used: sharks, cats, rabbit, camels. Horses are ideally used due to their body mass and less resistant to fight off a needle.
Step 4: Immunizing
The venom at this time should be prepared for injection by adding distilled water or buffer solution. A few milliliters should be injected in the horse and should be given to various locations to prevent any reactions at the site of injection. The antibodies in the horse's blood usually peak at 10 weeks at which point the horse will be ready for extraction. The jugular vein is usually drained for about 4-8 liters of blood.
Step 5: Purifying
This process is usually the longest and require a lot of small details. A centrifuge is usually use to filter the plasma. An enzyme is used to break down the antibodies into smaller parts. Once you have gone through the whole process, the anti-venom must be approved by the FDA which could take up to 10 years!!! As of right now CroFab is the only FDA approved anti-venom produced currently in the United States.
Step 6: Ready for Use
After the FDA has approved the anti-venom, it is ready to be used. The anti-venom must be refrigerated at all times for it to be efficient and effective. When shipped out to different regions, the vials are frozen. If administered properly in a victim of snake bite, the antibodies should bind to the venom and neutralize its effects.
Availability of Anti-Venom
Having access to anti-venom is not as high as we would like. There are various reasons for this. It is a long process of making anti-venom and getting the approval from FDA. There can be complication along the way. If the snake handler is bitten in the process, anti-venom will be required unless the person has been building up immunity by injecting themselves. This would be a step backwards in the process, that's one less anti-venom available.
The cost of preparing and making anti-venom is surprising high. A vial of CroFab cost $1600. It would not be bad if one vial could neutralize the toxin, but instead on average a person needs 20-25 vials. That's $32,000 per snake bite! Some snakes are known for delivering multiple bites such as the black mamba. Multiplying $32,000 by the number of snake bites adds up really quick.
Most of the deadliest snakes in the world are in the third world countries such as Africa, which in turn leads to the majority of snake bites. Electricity in third world countries is unreliable, making the anti-venom vials useless.
Although the FDA will never approve of Haast's method, his methods saved at least 21 people.
Approving a Vaccine
Just like anti-venom, a vaccine must be approved before it can be available in the market. The process is divided into 3 steps. People volunteer to enroll in each phase of the study. If the results are showing higher risks then benefits, and increasing occurrence of unexpected serious adverse event, the study will be terminated.
Step 1
The main goal during this step is to see if the vaccine is 100% safe. This phase test the vaccine in < 100 participants. If it passes this step, it will move on to step 2.
Step 2
This step requires a larger participant group, > then 100. The people chosen for this step are the type who will eventually be taking the vaccine. If it passes this step, it will move on the step 3.
Step 3
This step takes a long time because it includes > 5000 of people over the course of a few years. The people chosen vary in nationality, geographic region, health, and lifestyle. If it appears to be safe after the course of few years, the FDA will receive all the information collected during those years for accuracy. The FDA will then make a decision on whether to approve or reject the investigational product. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) then get advised from a group of doctors and scientists(Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, ACIP) who have looked at all the data extensively. After the recommendation, the CDC, ACIP, AAP(American Academy of Pediatrics), and AAFP(American Academy of Family Physicians) then make the final decision on whether it will go on the market.
As we can see, the process of making and approving anti-venom and vaccines are very long.