4 ms·

I didn't see any claims of it being a cure, but I think it still has the ability to be "world changing" for all those who are in need, much the same as a tourni

I didn't see any claims of it being a cure, but I think it still has the ability to be "world changing" for all those who are in need, much the same as a tourniquet doesn't fix loss of limb but can easily save a life when time is the deciding factor. I found more information about the active ingredient (cited in the article) on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varespladib https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varespladib

buu700 3y ago
Seems like it'd be pretty useful if it turned out to be cheap enough to stock in first aid kits and medicine cabinets around the world.
pmayrgundter 3y ago
Went digging a bit. It's a "small molecule" (C21-H20-N2-O5) and commercialy available at $10/mg[1]. Presumably this would come down quite a bit if it were widely stocked. The studies say they are looking at doses of 10mg/kg[2]. Similar dosing to a pain pill. On a first read, looks like a partial solution as it only delays onset of venom pathology for a day, tho not sure I'm interpreting that correctly. Otoh, it looks like the pills can continue to be taken for many days.. so perhaps there's promise for the venom to be slowly metabolized somehow that isn't inhibited. Might also bring down the cost of antivenom if it's now feasible to funnel patients into central treatment over greater distances, so stocks could be better used. [1]https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/155815#section=Chemical-Vendors https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/155815#section=Che... [2]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9695340/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9695340/ https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04996264 https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04996264