'Unparalleled' Snake Antivenom Made With Antibodies From a Man Bitten 200 Times

Long-time Slashdot reader piojo writes: Tim Friede, Wisconsin man, has been injecting himself with snake venom for 18 years to gain protection from his pet snakes. The antibodies he developed have formed two components of a three-part antivenom, which gives partial or total protection against 18 of 19 species of venomous snakes that were tested. Notably, the antivenom is ineffective against vipers.

From Australia's public broadcaster ABC:

The team's results have been published today in the journal Cell... The new antivenom described in the study is very different to traditional antivenoms, according to Peter Kwong, a biochemist at Columbia University and one of the study's authors.

The scientists call their new antivenom 'unparallel,' according to the BBC, though the snake enthusiast (a former truck mechanic) had 'initially wanted to build up his immunity to protect himself when handling snakes, documenting his exploits on YouTube.'

The team is trying to refine the antibodies further and see if adding a fourth component could lead to total protection against elapid snake venom... 'Tim's antibodies are really quite extraordinary — he taught his immune system to get this very, very broad recognition,' said Professor Peter Kwong [one of the researchers at Columbia University].


In a video interview, CNN shows footage of the man inducing snake bites (calling it 'a classic do-not-try-this-at-home moment'). 'I have a lot of notes in Excel files,' he tells CNN, 'where I hit these particular windows to where I know I can boost up before a bite.'

'I don't just take the bite, because that can kill you. I properly boost up, and methodically take notes, and weigh the venomes out very specifically...'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.