Tim Friede set out on an 18-year quest to create a universal snake antivenom. He got bitten 200 times to make it happen.
Most snake antivenoms relate to a specific type of snake. For instance, there is a specific type of antivenom used to treat bites from crotalids, a type of snake that includes rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouth, and moccasins. A cobra bite would require a different type of antivenom.
Friede, a 57-year-old Wisconsinite, has been letting a wide variety of venomous snakes bite him since 2001. All the while, he was building tolerance to their deadly toxins. On top of the bites, he’s injected himself with snake toxins more than 700 times.
The guy’s veins are coursing with more snake venom than blood by this point. If you’re wondering if he ever suffered any ill effects from any of this, of course, he did. Why wouldn’t he? He says some of his first bites put him in a coma.
U.S. Man Let Snakes Bite Him 200 Times So His Blood Could Create the Ultimate Antivenom
Friede’s story would be relegated to the Darwin Awards if it weren’t for the fact that the nearly 1,000 doses of snake venom he exposed himself to have resulted in a universal snake bite antivenom that will likely save countless lives.
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and Centivax, a biotech company Friede reached out to after he felt sufficiently immunized, just dropped a study in Cell detailing this astounding, if absolutely insane, medical breakthrough.
Using two antibodies harvested from Friede’s blood, they brewed up a synthetic antivenom cocktail with a third ingredient, varespladib, an experimental compound. They then tested this potential antivenom on mice injected with venom from 19 of the world’s most terrifying snakes, including cobras and the black mamba—snakes whose names alone strike fear into our hearts.
Thirteen snakes in, the mice had a 100% survival rate. The other six didn’t fare as well but were still mostly okay, as the cocktail provided them partial protection. This is a huge leap forward because most antivenoms are made by injecting animals like horses with venom and collecting the antibodies.
What’s Next for Snake Antivenoms?
The problem is that they are not universal. Cobra antivenom won’t work on a rattlesnake bite. Mixing the antivenoms can cause serum sickness, which is an allergic reaction to the proteins in an antivenom.
We may not have to worry about any of that stuff anymore now that Friede’s Frankenstein immune system is being used as the basis for what might become the first broadly protective, synthetic, universal antivenom. He’s now Centivax’s director of herpetology, which I sincerely hope involves more paperwork than it does snake bites.
If the trials go well, including upcoming tests on snakebitten dogs in Australia, this could be the universal antivenom the human race has been waiting for. And all we had to do to make it happen was let one crazy guy get snakebitten 200 times.
While I’m sure many thousands, maybe even millions of people over many, many years will thank Friede for his service and sacrifice, did he have no one in his life to tell him not to do this? Or, even worse, did he have someone in his life encouraging this?
Either way, a lot of people are going to survive snake bites because of him, and I guess we should be thankful that some people in this world are using their insanity for good. Feels like a rarity nowadays.
The post U.S. Man Willingly Got 200 Snake Bites So His Blood Could Create the Ultimate Antivenom appeared first on VICE.
