Antivenom for Venomous Bites Treatment: Assessment of Antivenom Quality, Efficacy and Safety, and Development of Next Generation Antivenoms

Dear Colleagues,

Overview

Snakebite envenoming is a neglected tropical disease (NTD), as recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), with a significant public health impact in tropical areas, primarily affecting poor and rural people and, therefore, called a ‘‘Disease of Poverty”. Antivenom prepared by conventional methods in horses is still the mainstay for treating snakebite envenomation. The success of antivenom therapy depends upon its ability to mitigate the local and systemic toxicity of envenomation with fewer adverse effects.

Antivenom was first used for snakebite treatment by Albert Calmette in 1894; since then, the basic strategy for antivenom production has remained fundamentally the same, although significant improvements in the manufacturing methodology have been made. Recently, WHO launched a global strategy to control and prevent snake envenomation, with the aim of reducing the number of deaths and disabilities caused by snakebites by 50% by the year 2030. One of this strategy's four pillars is providing safe and effective treatments. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to assess the quality and safety of existing and newly developed commercial antivenom to eliminate low-quality antivenom. As an alternative approach, scientists worldwide are trying to create next-generation antivenom, for example, recombinant antivenom, engineered human-derived antivenom, peptide- and oligonucleotide-based aptamer, or plant-based antivenom, as well as small molecule inhibitors to reduce the risk of adverse reactions and improve the venom-specific antibodies. This Special Issue invites all original research (basic and clinical) and review articles focusing on the assessment of quality, safety, and efficacy of antivenom, improvement in the antivenom production, development of next-generation antivenom, plant-based antivenom, and use of small molecule inhibitors for snakebite treatment.

The theme of the topics to be covered under this Special Issue:

1. In vitro and In vivo assessment of quality safety and efficacy of antivenom;
2. Adverse reactions of antivenom and its treatment;
3. Improvement of the current method of antivenom production;
4. Development of the next generation of antivenom;
5. Treatment of snake envenomation by an alternative approaches, such as small molecule inhibitors, aptamers, plant-based antivenom;
6. Repurposed drugs against snakebites.

Prof. Dr. Ashis Kumar Mukherjee
Guest Editor

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