Early promise seen in versatile snake bite drug developed by CA Academy of Sciences doctor

By Tim Didion and Spencer Christian

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    SAN FRANCISCO, California (KGO) — Rattlesnakes are always lurking in the collective imagination, here in California. But for researchers at the California Academy of Sciences, they’re just one of hundreds of venomous snakes they could encounter in jungles and deserts around the world.

As manager of the Academy’s herpetology collection, Lauren Scheinberg has seen about everything that slithers, including some of the deadliest snakes on the planet. Those international expeditions have helped build the collection into a world-class resource for science.

Still, the danger remains real. Several decades ago, an Academy researcher died after a fatal bite in northern Myanmar and Scheinberg says researchers take extreme caution doing field work.

“I do. I mean, it’s good to stay vigilant,” Scheinberg said. “I’m always thinking about it and just being safe as safe as I can be when I’m out there.”

But several years ago, fellow scientist and doctor Matthew Lewin, MD, PHD, thought maybe he could help make their work even safer. After returning from an expedition to the Philippines he set out to discover what could be described as a versatile venom blocker. A drug that could potentially save lives around the world.

“Yeah, so after this expedition to the Philippines with the Academy of Sciences, I had this idea,” Dr. Lewin said. “Wouldn’t it be nice if you had an answer to snake bite that you could take in the field because 75% of the deaths from snake bite occur prior to the patient getting to the hospital?”

And not unlike the snakes he studies, Dr. Lewin’s path took unexpected twists and turns. He wanted to look at existing medications but needed to identify a target the drug could work on. He eventually zeroed in on a specific toxic element in snake venom known as sPLA2.

“95% of the world’s snakes use a toxin called sPLA2, and this toxin is highly conserved throughout evolution. And so because you see it in snakes, from Africa, Asia, North America, Australia, you could imagine that this is a very important toxin to the snakes,” he said.

After some trial and error, Dr. Lewin identified an anti-inflammation drug that he believed could potentially interrupt this key venom toxin.

Dr. Lewin’s team has secured FDA approval for clinical trials. Data from those trials is still being evaluated but show early promise with real snake bite victims in hospital settings where the drug has been tested so far. If the drug is ultimately approved, Lewin believes it could fulfill its original goal, reaching people who need it the most.

“The people who will benefit most from this will be the people who can actually afford it the least. 98% of the world’s victims of snake bite live in poverty,” he says.

The global effort is also helping fellow Academy scientists continue research around the world.

“We still have an active field program. Collections are still something that are alive and thriving,” Scheinberg said.

There are antivenoms currently available, but they typically have to be refrigerated and given through an injection in a hospital setting. Also, experts say they tend to be species-specific. So the newer oral formula could be a major advance if it’s made available in remote areas around the world.

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