Overview

Under the current standard of care, a snakebite victim must quickly reach a hospital that has an antivenom matching the snake responsible for the bite — if the snake is identified, and if a matching antivenom even exists.

Of the more than 450 species of venomous snakes worldwide, fewer than half have a matched antivenom. Manufacturing antivenom is a labor-intensive process that involves “milking” specific snakes for venom, injecting the venom into large animals, and then collecting and purifying the antibodies the animals produce. Obtaining and stocking antivenom depends upon cold-chain logistics and storage. Administration, by IV, must take place in a hospital that can manage any potential side effects.

Any delays in initiating antivenom treatment can be devastating. Once the snakes’s venom has left the victim’s bloodstream and penetrated tissue, antivenom cannot reverse its toxic effects. The results often include paralysis or amputation.

Our goal is to provide a global solution to snakebite — a treatment that can be administered orally or by IV that blocks the most lethal component of venom, secretory phospholipase 2 (sPLA2) enzymes.

Our pre-clinical studies have shown that our small molecule treatment, varespladib, is a very potent inhibitor of broad-spectrum snake venom sPLA2 enzymes. In remarkable results, we saw that varespladib can reverse paralysis and restore blood clotting, even with delayed administration.

We expect the attributes of our treatment to yield better availability and quality of care — and improve morbidity and mortality outcomes for people worldwide.

• Broad-spectrum application

• Easy-to-use, time-of-bite oral administration

• Scaleable, synthetic manufacturing of a temperature-stable formulation

With varespladib’s excellent safety profile already established in earlier studies targeting other indications, our next step is to assess its full potential for worldwide human and veterinary use for snakebite envenoming. Looking further ahead, we are evaluating expanded programs with additional formulations and targets.