Fake anti-venoms costing lives, says researcher

Nov, 2015

Snakebite claims thousands of lives in the world's poorest countries, in part because of counterfeit and substandard anti-venoms, according to the British Medical Journal.

An editorial in the BMJ by University of Melbourne researcher David Williams - who heads up the Australian Venom Research Unit - says high prices for anti-venom products and a lack of expertise within National Regulatory Bodies "has opened the door for counterfeit treatments."

The article - prompted by the news that Sanofi has exited the African market for anti-venoms - notes that for most people this is a non-event as the product often never reaches them in the first place.

"The harsh fact is that the continent is largely devoid of safe, effective, and affordable treatments for something that is eminently treatable," writes Williams.
Between 1.2 and 5.5 million people suffer snakebites every year, resulting in 25,000 to 125,000 deaths and leaving approximately 400,000 victims with permanent injuries.

"For decades there have been chronic gaps in anti-venom supply globally that have cumulatively cost millions of lives, maimed millions more and contributed to the burden of poverty," according to Williams, who wants the World Health Organization (WHO) to restore snakebite to its list of neglected tropical diseases.
"African nations fall prey to a new breed of snake oil sales representatives, notes Williams.

"These purveyors of profit take advantage of poorly-resourced regulatory environments, lack of transparency, and few testing laboratories to introduce unproved imitations and poorly tested alternatives."