Snakebite is a major public health burden for low-income countries in tropical parts of the world. There are around 5 million bites and 150,000 deaths every year. And about 400,000 victims become permanently disabled annually.

In Africa, the most notorious of snake species is the black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis). It is feared for its potent rapid-acting venom and its characteristic feature of typically striking more than once. The problem is that it always injects venom in its bite.

So a bite from this species has an almost 100% fatality rate if left untreated. Other venomous African snake species that pose a danger to humans include other mambas, cobras, puff adders, boomslangs, and a range of vipers.

Treatment against snakebite venom is currently limited to antiserum derived from animals. There have been incremental innovations in the manufacture of antivenoms. But most are still produced using methods developed 120 years ago.

Current antivenom production involves immunising animals, like horses or sheep, with venom milked from snakes and then isolating antibodies from the serum. The process is expensive and labour intensive.

A combination of these factors and a difficult market environment has some led commercial producers to withdraw. As a result, current stocks of functional antivenom will soon expire. The situation is so bad that experts and NGOs active in the field refer to the lack of antivenom – particularly in sub-Saharan Africa – as a neglected health crisis.

But there is hope on the horizon. Innovations in biotechnology being used to produce pharmaceuticals for other treatments could also be applied to producing antivenoms. These would be made in laboratory conditions rather than extracted from animals.

We have been exploring various avenues to produce antivenoms based on mixtures of antibodies, rather than having them derive from animals. This is a scientifically and commercially sound opportunity that promises to bring the shortage of snakebite antivenoms in sub-Saharan Africa to an end, not immediately but certainly in the medium to longer term.

What biotechnology can deliver

Innovations in biotechnology can make antivenoms more cost-effective and easier to produce. They can also be made more effective against snakebites. Alternative avenues, already established within biotechnology, could be pursued to create novel ones.

These have the potential to improve treatment against snakebite and lower cost of production. Lower manufacturing costs would make it profitable for pharmaceutical companies to bring low cost antivenoms to the market. It could even provide a financial incentive for antivenom manufacturers to distribute antivenoms to rural parts of the tropics.