A Man Let Deadly Snakes Bite Him for 20 Years. His Immune System Is Now a Scientific Marvel.

The antitoxin antibodies found in the blood of a Wisconsin man—who voluntarily let snakes bite him for alm0st 20 years—is helping scientists create better antivenom drugs for snakebites.
By combing two of the antibodies found in Tim Friede with a venom-blocking drug, the biotech company Centivax developed full protection against 13 snake species and partial protection for a further six.
The team hopes to develop treatment for viper snake bites, and will soon begin testing this new antivenom in Australia on dogs brought in to clinics with snake bite injuries.

Snakes are one of the most fascinating animals on the planet. They can use their tongues to smell, they can hear despite their lack of external ears, and yes, they can be extremely deadly. Every year, snake bites cause between about 80,000 and 100,000 deaths worldwide, and leave around 300,000 others with disabilities. So it’s with good reason that an estimated one-third of adults worldwide experience ophidiophobia—a fear of snakes.

However, this prevalent fear isn’t an issue for Tim Friede, who has spent two decades voluntarily letting hundreds of deadly venomous snakes bite him. And, like secret spies who slowly inoculate themselves to various poisons due to prolonged exposures, Friede is now effectively immune to a variety of lethal snakes, including black mambas, king cobras, and tiger snakes. Now, a new study details an antivenom developed from Friede’s impressive antitoxin antibodies. The results of the study were published in the journal Cell.

“What was exciting about the donor was his once-in-a-lifetime unique immune history,” lead author Jacob Glanville, who’s also the CEO of the biotech company Centivax, said in a news release. “Not only did he potentially create these broadly neutralizing antibodies, in this case, it could give rise to a broad-spectrum or universal antivenom.”

Although a living nightmare for most, Friede—who is described as a self-taught venom expert and serves as the director of herpetology at Centivax—said that two decades of snake bites were, in the end, a scientific endeavor. Speaking to Science News, Friede said that his process is a methodical one. First, he milks snakes of their venom and injects it into his body, increasing the dosage over time. This allowed his body the time necessary to develop antitoxin antibodies that could fight off future snake bites, otherwise Friede would’ve died many times over. Then, once sufficiently immune, Friede had the snake bite him directly to test his immunity. This… didn’t always go according to plan, like the time when twin bites from an Egyptian cobra and a monocled cobra sent him to the hospital (and into a coma for four days).

“It always burns and it’s always, always painful,” Friede told Science News. “Was it a mistake? Yes. Was it stupid? Yes.”

But now, Friede’s “mistakes” could benefit millions of future snakebite victims. By analyzing Friede’s unique antitoxin antibodies, scientists developed an antivenom cocktail that can diminish the deadly effects of some of the world’s most dangerous snakes. Centivax created the cocktail by combining two of Friede’s antibodies (called LNX-D09 and SNX-B03) with a toxin-blocking drug called varespladib. Once tested on mice, the antivenom drug protected the rodents completely from 13 snake species, and partially protected them from a further six.

The team will begin testing these new anitvenom treatments in Australia on dogs who are brought in for snake bite injuries, and hopes to provide similar treatment for viper bites as well.

“We’re turning the crank now, setting up reagents to go through this iterative process of saying what’s the minimum sufficient cocktail to provide broad protection against venom from the viperids,” Peter Kwong, a lead author of the study from Columbia University, said in a press statement.

Snakes still broadly inspire fear in most of us, but with the help of brave (and somewhat reckless) ophiophilists like Friede, maybe the world can one day begin to also love the amazing creatures attached to those menacing fangs.

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