Science & Technology

Man bitten by snakes 200 times helps to create 'unparalleled' anti-venom

By T.K. Randall
May 5, 2025 ·  0 comments

Snake venom can be deadly. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 4.0 Bouke ten Cate Being bitten by a snake can prove incredibly serious, as evidenced by the 140,000 deaths a year caused by snake bites and the countless other victims who have ended up with permanent disabilities.

Hoping to build up an immunity to snake bites while handling serpents, Tim Friede - a former truck mechanic - began allowing himself to be bitten on purpose.

Initially making the almost-fatal error of being bitten twice by a cobra in quick succession (a mistake that left him in a coma), he quickly learned how to endure bites without suffering ill-effects.

Now, 18 years on, he has been bitten by snakes over 200 times and has also injected himself with more than 700 doses of venom prepared from the poison of various different snakes.

Incredibly, this has all meant that he now has a rather unique tolerance to snake bites.When Dr Jacob Glanville - chief executive of biotech company Centivax - heard about this, he was keen to have Friede come in and help his team develop a new type of anti-venom.

"Immediately I was like 'if anybody in the world has developed these broadly neutralising antibodies, it's going to be him' and so I reached out," he said.

"The first call, I was like 'this might be awkward, but I'd love to get my hands on some of your blood'."

The resulting anti-venom reportedly offers 'unparalleled' protection against a wide range of snake bites and could go on to save countless lives.

Friede had even built up a protection against the venom of snakes for which there is currently no standard anti-venom treatment.

"Tim's antibodies are really quite extraordinary - he taught his immune system to get this very, very broad recognition," said Prof Peter Kwong of Columbia University.

Source: BBC News | Comments (0)

Tags: Snake, Venom