Latest news with #VagelosCollegeofPhysiciansandSurgeons
7NEWS
11-05-2025
- Health
- 7NEWS
Tim injected himself with snake venom hundreds of times. Now, his blood could save lives
Immunologist Jacob Glanville came across media reports in 2017 of a man who had injected himself hundreds of times with the venom of some of the world's deadliest snakes, including cobras, mambas, and rattlesnakes — and allowed himself to be bitten. 'The news articles were kind of flashy. 'Crazy guy gets bit by snakes',' Glanville said. 'But I looked, and I was like there's a diamond in the rough here.' Glanville's diamond was Tim Friede, a self-taught snake expert based in California who exposed himself to the venom of snakes over the course of nearly 18 years, effectively gaining immunity to several neurotoxins. 'We had this conversation. And I said, I know it's awkward, but I'm really interested in looking at some of your blood,' Glanville recalled. 'He said 'finally, I've been waiting for this call'.' The pair agreed to work together, and Friede donated a 40-milliliter blood sample to Glanville and his colleagues. Eight years later, Glanville and Peter Kwong, Richard J. Stock Professor of medical sciences at Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, have published details of an antivenom that can protect against bites from 19 species of venomous snake — at least in mice — based on antibodies in Friede's blood and a venom-blocking drug. 'Tim, to my knowledge, he has an unparalleled history. It was different, very diverse species from every continent that has snakes, and ... he kept rotating between (the snake venoms) over a 17-year, nine-month history, and he took meticulous records the entire time,' Glanville said. 'However, we strongly discourage anyone from trying to do what Tim did,' Glanville added. 'Snake venom is dangerous.' Friede gave up immunising himself with snake venom in 2018 after some close calls, and he is now employed by Glanville's biotechnology company Centivax, Glanville said. Glanville is CEO and chairman of Centivax. The research was published Friday in the scientific journal Cell. CNN contacted Friede, but he did not respond to an interview request. The snakebite problem If you're unlucky enough to have a venomous snake sink its fangs into you, your best hope is an antivenom, which for the most part has been made in the same way since Victorian times. Traditionally, the process involves milking snake venom by hand and injecting it into horses or other animals in small doses to evoke an immune response. The animal's blood is drawn and purified to obtain antibodies that act against the venom. Producing antivenom in this way can get messy, not to mention dangerous. The process is prone to errors and laborious, and the finished serum can result in serious side effects. Experts have long called for better ways to treat snakebites, which kill some 200 people a day, mainly in the developing world, and leave 400,000 people a year with disabilities. The World Health Organization added snakebite to its list of neglected tropical diseases in 2017. Glanville, who grew up in rural Guatemala, said he had long been aware of the health problems posed by snakebites and immediately recognised that Friede's experience presented a unique opportunity. Exposing himself to the venom of snakes for nearly two decades, by injecting venom and allowing himself to be bitten, Friede had generated antibodies that were effective against several snake neurotoxins at once. 'Revolutionary' potential The researchers isolated antibodies from Friede's blood that reacted with neurotoxins found within the 19 snake species tested in the study, which included coral snakes, mambas, cobras, taipans, kraits and others. These antibodies were then tested one by one in mice poisoned by venom from each of the 19 species, allowing scientists to understand systematically the minimum number of components that would neutralise all the venoms. The drug cocktail the team created ultimately included three things: two antibodies isolated from Friede and the small-molecule drug varespladib, which inhibits an enzyme that is present in 95% of all snakebites. The drug is currently in human clinical trials as a standalone treatment. The first antibody, known as LNX-D09, protected mice from a lethal dose of whole venom from six of the snake species. The addition of varespladib granted protection against an additional three species. Finally, researchers added a second antibody isolated from Friede's blood, called SNX-B03, which extended protection across 19 species. The antivenom offered the mice 100% protection against the venom for 13 species and partial protection (20% to 40%) for the remaining six, the researchers noted in the study. Steven Hall, a snakebite pharmacologist at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom, called it a 'very clever and creative way' to develop an antivenom. Hall wasn't involved in the research. And while the cocktail has not been tested in humans, should it be approved for clinical use, Hall said the human origin of the antibodies would likely mean fewer side effects than antivenoms made the traditional way using horses or other animals, which can often result in allergic reactions. 'It's impressive for the fact that this is done with one or two antibodies, plus a small-molecule drug, and that increases the number of species, versus a regular antidote. And I think it does a good job of highlighting the potential utility of combining a small-molecule drug with an antibody,' Hall added. 'If it makes it into clinic, makes it into people in the long run, it would be revolutionary. It actually would completely change the field in terms of snakebite (treatment),' he said. Columbia's Kwong said that the published research focused on a class of snakes known as elapids. It did not include viperids, the other major group of venomous snakes that includes rattlesnakes, saw-scaled vipers and additional species. However, the team is investigating whether additional antibodies identified in Friede's blood or other agents might offer protection against this viperid family of snakes. 'The final contemplated product would be a single, pan-antivenom cocktail or we potentially would make two: one that is for the elapids and another that is for the viperids because some areas of the world only have one or the other,' Kwong said. The team also wants to start field research in Australia, where there are only elapid snakes, allowing vets to use the antivenom on dogs bitten by snakes.
NDTV
03-05-2025
- Health
- NDTV
US Man Endures Over 200 Snakebites To Create The Ultimate Antivenom From His Blood
Quick Take Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed. Scientists developed unique antivenom from Tim Friede's snake venom blood. Tim Friede injected himself with snake venom for nearly 18 years. Antibodies in his blood protect against bites from 19 venomous snakes. Scientists have managed to develop an "unparalleled" antivenom from the blood of a US man who deliberately injected himself with snake venom for nearly two decades. For 18 years, starting in 2001, California-based Tim Friede got himself knowingly bitten by some of the most venomous snakes on the planet in hopes of finding a cure for all snake bites. According to a report in CNN, antibodies found in Mr Friede's blood have now been shown to protect against fatal doses from a wide range of species in animal tests. Immunologist Jacob Glanville first heard about Mr Friede through media reports in 2017 and decided that there was an opportunity to do something groundbreaking. "We had this conversation. And I said, I know it's awkward, but I'm really interested in looking at some of your blood," said Mr Glanville. "And he [Tim Friede] said, 'Finally, I've been waiting for this call.'" As the pair began working together, Mr Friede donated a 40-millilitre blood sample to Mr Glanville and his colleagues. Eight years later, Mr Glanville and Peter Kwong, Richard J. Stock, Professor of medical sciences at Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons have published details of the antivenom that can protect against the bites from 19 species of poisonous snakes. Currently, antivenom is made by injecting small doses of snake venom into animals, such as horses. Once the immune system fights the venom and produces the antibodies, scientists harvest them to be used as antivenom. However, venom and antivenom have to be closely matched. For example, antivenom made from snakes in India may not be as effective against the same species in Thailand. While the antivenom cocktail prepared using Mr Friede's blood has not been tested in humans yet, experts predict that the human origin of the antibodies would mean fewer side effects than antivenoms made the traditional way. "Tim's antibodies are really quite extraordinary - he taught his immune system to get this very, very broad recognition," said Prof Kwong. Notably, Mr Friede gave up on injecting himself with snake venom in 2018 after some close calls. He is now employed by Glanville's biotechnology company Centivax and contributing to the research. As per the World Health Organization (WHO), every year, venomous snake bites kill tens of thousands of people globally and permanently disable several hundred thousand more.
CNN
02-05-2025
- Health
- CNN
Man who injected himself with venom hundreds of times could revolutionize snakebite treatment
Immunologist Jacob Glanville came across media reports in 2017 of a man who had injected himself hundreds of times with the venom of some of the world's deadliest snakes, including cobras, mambas and rattlesnakes — and allowed himself to be bitten. 'The news articles were kind of flashy. 'Crazy guy gets bit by snakes,'' Glanville said. 'But I looked, and I was like there's a diamond in the rough here.' Glanville's diamond was Tim Friede, a self-taught snake expert based in California who exposed himself to the venom of snakes over the course of nearly 18 years, effectively gaining immunity to several neurotoxins. 'We had this conversation. And I said, I know it's awkward, but I'm really interested in looking at some of your blood,' Glanville recalled. 'And he said, 'Finally, I've been waiting for this call.'' The pair agreed to work together, and Friede donated a 40-milliliter blood sample to Glanville and his colleagues. Eight years later, Glanville and Peter Kwong, Richard J. Stock Professor of medical sciences at Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, have published details of an antivenom that can protect against bites from 19 species of poisonous snake — at least in mice — based on antibodies in Friede's blood and a venom-blocking drug. 'Tim, to my knowledge, he has an unparalleled history. It was different, very diverse species from every continent that has snakes, and … he kept rotating between (the snake venoms) over a 17-year, nine-month history, and he took meticulous records the entire time,' Glanville said. 'However, we strongly discourage anyone from trying to do what Tim did,' Glanville added. 'Snake venom is dangerous.' Friede gave up immunizing himself with snake venom in 2018 after some close calls, and he is now employed by Glanville's biotechnology company Centivax, Glanville said. Glanville is CEO and chairman of Centivax. The research was published Friday in the scientific journal Cell. CNN contacted Friede, but he did not respond to an interview request. If you're unlucky enough to have a poisonous snake sink its fangs into you, your best hope is an antivenom, which for the most part has been made in the same way since Victorian times. Traditionally, the process involves milking snake venom by hand and injecting it into horses or other animals in small doses to evoke an immune response. The animal's blood is drawn and purified to obtain antibodies that act against the venom. Producing antivenom in this way can get messy, not to mention dangerous. The process is prone to errors and laborious, and the finished serum can result in serious side effects. Experts have long called for better ways to treat snakebites, which kill some 200 people a day, mainly in the developing world, and leave 400,000 people a year with disabilities. The World Health Organization added snakebite to its list of neglected tropical diseases in 2017. Glanville, who grew up in rural Guatemala, said he had long been aware of the health problems posed by snakebites and immediately recognized that Friede's experience presented a unique opportunity. Exposing himself to the venom of snakes for nearly two decades, by injecting venom and allowing himself to be bitten, Friede had generated antibodies that were effective against several snake neurotoxins at once. The researchers isolated antibodies from Friede's blood that reacted with neurotoxins found within the 19 snake species tested in the study, which included coral snakes, mambas, cobras, taipans, kraits and others. These antibodies were then tested one by one in mice poisoned by venom from each of the 19 species, allowing scientists to understand systematically the minimum number of components that would neutralize all the venoms. The drug cocktail the team created ultimately included three things: two antibodies isolated from Friede and the small-molecule drug varespladib, which inhibits an enzyme that is present in 95% of all snakebites. The drug is currently in human clinical trials as a standalone treatment. The first antibody, known as LNX-D09, protected mice from a lethal dose of whole venom from six of the snake species. The addition of varespladib granted protection against an additional three species. Finally, researchers added a second antibody isolated from Friede's blood, called SNX-B03, which extended protection across 19 species. The antivenom offered the mice 100% protection against the venom for 13 species and partial protection (20% to 40%) for the remaining six, the researchers noted in the study. Steven Hall, a snakebite pharmacologist at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom, called it a 'very clever and creative way' to develop an antivenom. Hall wasn't involved in the research. And while the cocktail has not been tested in humans, should it be approved for clinical use, Hall said the human origin of the antibodies would likely mean fewer side effects than antivenoms made the traditional way using horses or other animals, which can often result in allergic reactions. 'It's impressive for the fact that this is done with one or two antibodies, plus a small-molecule drug, and that increases the number of species, versus a regular antidote. And I think it does a good job of highlighting the potential utility of combining a small-molecule drug with an antibody,' Hall added. 'If it makes it into clinic, makes it into people in the long run, it would be revolutionary. It actually would completely change the field in terms of snakebite (treatment),' he said. Columbia's Kwong said that the published research focused on a class of snakes known as elapids. It did not include viperids, the other major group of venomous snakes that includes rattlesnakes, saw-scaled vipers and additional species. However, the team is investigating whether additional antibodies identified in Friede's blood or other agents might offer protection against this viperid family of snakes. 'The final contemplated product would be a single, pan-antivenom cocktail or we potentially would make two: one that is for the elapids and another that is for the viperids because some areas of the world only have one or the other,' Kwong said. The team also wants to start field research in Australia, where there are only elapid snakes, allowing vets to use the antivenom on dogs bitten by snakes.
CNN
02-05-2025
- Health
- CNN
Man who injected himself with venom hundreds of times could revolutionize snakebite treatment
Immunologist Jacob Glanville came across media reports in 2017 of a man who had injected himself hundreds of times with the venom of some of the world's deadliest snakes, including cobras, mambas and rattlesnakes — and allowed himself to be bitten. 'The news articles were kind of flashy. 'Crazy guy gets bit by snakes,'' Glanville said. 'But I looked, and I was like there's a diamond in the rough here.' Glanville's diamond was Tim Friede, a self-taught snake expert based in California who exposed himself to the venom of snakes over the course of nearly 18 years, effectively gaining immunity to several neurotoxins. 'We had this conversation. And I said, I know it's awkward, but I'm really interested in looking at some of your blood,' Glanville recalled. 'And he said, 'Finally, I've been waiting for this call.'' The pair agreed to work together, and Friede donated a 40-milliliter blood sample to Glanville and his colleagues. Eight years later, Glanville and Peter Kwong, Richard J. Stock Professor of medical sciences at Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, have published details of an antivenom that can protect against bites from 19 species of poisonous snake — at least in mice — based on antibodies in Friede's blood and a venom-blocking drug. 'Tim, to my knowledge, he has an unparalleled history. It was different, very diverse species from every continent that has snakes, and … he kept rotating between (the snake venoms) over a 17-year, nine-month history, and he took meticulous records the entire time,' Glanville said. 'However, we strongly discourage anyone from trying to do what Tim did,' Glanville added. 'Snake venom is dangerous.' Friede gave up immunizing himself with snake venom in 2018 after some close calls, and he is now employed by Glanville's biotechnology company Centivax, Glanville said. Glanville is CEO and chairman of Centivax. The research was published Friday in the scientific journal Cell. CNN contacted Friede, but he did not respond to an interview request. If you're unlucky enough to have a poisonous snake sink its fangs into you, your best hope is an antivenom, which for the most part has been made in the same way since Victorian times. Traditionally, the process involves milking snake venom by hand and injecting it into horses or other animals in small doses to evoke an immune response. The animal's blood is drawn and purified to obtain antibodies that act against the venom. Producing antivenom in this way can get messy, not to mention dangerous. The process is prone to errors and laborious, and the finished serum can result in serious side effects. Experts have long called for better ways to treat snakebites, which kill some 200 people a day, mainly in the developing world, and leave 400,000 people a year with disabilities. The World Health Organization added snakebite to its list of neglected tropical diseases in 2017. Glanville, who grew up in rural Guatemala, said he had long been aware of the health problems posed by snakebites and immediately recognized that Friede's experience presented a unique opportunity. Exposing himself to the venom of snakes for nearly two decades, by injecting venom and allowing himself to be bitten, Friede had generated antibodies that were effective against several snake neurotoxins at once. The researchers isolated antibodies from Friede's blood that reacted with neurotoxins found within the 19 snake species tested in the study, which included coral snakes, mambas, cobras, taipans, kraits and others. These antibodies were then tested one by one in mice poisoned by venom from each of the 19 species, allowing scientists to understand systematically the minimum number of components that would neutralize all the venoms. The drug cocktail the team created ultimately included three things: two antibodies isolated from Friede and the small-molecule drug varespladib, which inhibits an enzyme that is present in 95% of all snakebites. The drug is currently in human clinical trials as a standalone treatment. The first antibody, known as LNX-D09, protected mice from a lethal dose of whole venom from six of the snake species. The addition of varespladib granted protection against an additional three species. Finally, researchers added a second antibody isolated from Friede's blood, called SNX-B03, which extended protection across 19 species. The antivenom offered the mice 100% protection against the venom for 13 species and partial protection (20% to 40%) for the remaining six, the researchers noted in the study. Steven Hall, a snakebite pharmacologist at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom, called it a 'very clever and creative way' to develop an antivenom. Hall wasn't involved in the research. And while the cocktail has not been tested in humans, should it be approved for clinical use, Hall said the human origin of the antibodies would likely mean fewer side effects than antivenoms made the traditional way using horses or other animals, which can often result in allergic reactions. 'It's impressive for the fact that this is done with one or two antibodies, plus a small-molecule drug, and that increases the number of species, versus a regular antidote. And I think it does a good job of highlighting the potential utility of combining a small-molecule drug with an antibody,' Hall added. 'If it makes it into clinic, makes it into people in the long run, it would be revolutionary. It actually would completely change the field in terms of snakebite (treatment),' he said. Columbia's Kwong said that the published research focused on a class of snakes known as elapids. It did not include viperids, the other major group of venomous snakes that includes rattlesnakes, saw-scaled vipers and additional species. However, the team is investigating whether additional antibodies identified in Friede's blood or other agents might offer protection against this viperid family of snakes. 'The final contemplated product would be a single, pan-antivenom cocktail or we potentially would make two: one that is for the elapids and another that is for the viperids because some areas of the world only have one or the other,' Kwong said. The team also wants to start field research in Australia, where there are only elapid snakes, allowing vets to use the antivenom on dogs bitten by snakes.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Amid plummeting diversity at medical schools, a warning of DEI crackdown's ‘chilling effect'
Graduates of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons during Columbia University's commencement convocation on May 17, 2023. (Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images) The Trump administration's crackdown on DEI programs could exacerbate an unexpectedly steep drop in diversity among medical school students, even in states like California, where public universities have been navigating bans on affirmative action for decades. Education and health experts warn that, ultimately, this could harm patient care. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has issued a handful of executive orders aimed at terminating all diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives in federally funded programs. And in his March 4 address to Congress, he described the Supreme Court's 2023 decision banning the consideration of race in college and university admissions as 'brave and very powerful.' Last month, the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights — which lost about 50% of its staff in mid-March — directed schools, including postsecondary institutions, to end race-based programs or risk losing federal funding. The 'Dear Colleague' letter cited the Supreme Court's decision. Paulette Granberry Russell, president and CEO of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, said that 'every utterance of 'diversity' is now being viewed as a violation or considered unlawful or illegal.' Her organization filed a lawsuit challenging Trump's anti-DEI executive orders. While California and eight other states — Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Washington — had already implemented bans of varying degrees on race-based admissions policies well before the Supreme Court decision, schools bolstered diversity in their ranks with equity initiatives such as targeted scholarships, trainings, and recruitment programs. But the court's decision and the subsequent state-level backlash — 29 states have since introduced bills to curb diversity initiatives, according to data published by the Chronicle of Higher Education — have tamped down these efforts and led to the recent declines in diversity numbers, education experts said. After the Supreme Court's ruling, the numbers of Black and Hispanic medical school enrollees fell by double-digit percentages in the 2024-25 school year compared with the previous year, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Black enrollees declined 11.6%, while the number of new students of Hispanic origin fell 10.8%. The decline in enrollment of American Indian or Alaska Native students was even more dramatic, at 22.1%. New Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander enrollment declined 4.3%. 'We knew this would happen,' said Norma Poll-Hunter, AAMC's senior director of workforce diversity. 'But it was double digits — much larger than what we anticipated.' The fear among educators is the numbers will decline even more under the new administration. At the end of February, the Education Department launched an online portal encouraging people to 'report illegal discriminatory practices at institutions of learning,' stating that students should have 'learning free of divisive ideologies and indoctrination.' The agency later issued a 'Frequently Asked Questions' document about its new policies, clarifying that it was acceptable to observe events like Black History Month but warning schools that they 'must consider whether any school programming discourages members of all races from attending.' 'It definitely has a chilling effect,' Poll-Hunter said. 'There is a lot of fear that could cause institutions to limit their efforts.' Numerous requests for comment from medical schools about the impact of the anti-DEI actions went unreturned. University presidents are staying mum on the issue to protect their institutions, according to reporting from The New York Times. Utibe Essien, a physician and UCLA assistant professor, said he has heard from some students who fear they won't be considered for admission under the new policies. Essien, who co-authored a study on the effect of affirmative action bans on medical schools, also said students are worried medical schools will not be as supportive toward students of color as in the past. 'Both of these fears have the risk of limiting the options of schools folks apply to and potentially those who consider medicine as an option at all,' Essien said, adding that the 'lawsuits around equity policies and just the climate of anti-diversity have brought institutions to this place where they feel uncomfortable.' In early February, the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit against the University of California-San Francisco's Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland over an internship program designed to introduce 'underrepresented minority high school students to health professions.' Attorney Andrew Quinio filed the suit, which argues that its plaintiff, a white teenager, was not accepted to the program after disclosing in an interview that she identified as white. 'From a legal standpoint, the issue that comes about from all this is: How do you choose diversity without running afoul of the Constitution?' Quinio said. 'For those who want diversity as a goal, it cannot be a goal that is achieved with discrimination.' UC Health spokesperson Heather Harper declined to comment on the suit on behalf of the hospital system. Another lawsuit filed in February accuses the University of California of favoring Black and Latino students over Asian American and white applicants in its undergraduate admissions. Specifically, the complaint states that UC officials pushed campuses to use a 'holistic' approach to admissions and 'move away from objective criteria towards more subjective assessments of the overall appeal of individual candidates.' The scrutiny of that approach to admissions could threaten diversity at the UC-Davis School of Medicine, which for years has employed a 'race-neutral, holistic admissions model' that reportedly tripled enrollment of Black, Latino, and Native American students. 'How do you define diversity? Does it now include the way we consider how someone's lived experience may be influenced by how they grew up? The type of school, the income of their family? All of those are diversity,' said Granberry Russell, of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. 'What might they view as an unlawful proxy for diversity equity and inclusion? That's what we're confronted with.' California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, recently joined other state attorneys general to issue guidance urging that schools continue their DEI programs despite the federal messaging, saying that legal precedent allows for the activities. California is also among several states suing the administration over its deep cuts to the Education Department. If the recent decline in diversity among newly enrolled students holds or gets worse, it could have long-term consequences for patient care, academic experts said, pointing toward the vast racial disparities in health outcomes in the U.S., particularly for Black people. A higher proportion of Black primary care doctors is associated with longer life expectancy and lower mortality rates among Black people, according to a 2023 study published by the JAMA Network. Physicians of color are also more likely to build their careers in medically underserved communities, studies have shown, which is increasingly important as the AAMC projects a shortage of up to 40,400 primary care doctors by 2036. 'The physician shortage persists, and it's dire in rural communities,' Poll-Hunter said. 'We know that diversity efforts are really about improving access for everyone. More diversity leads to greater access to care — everyone is benefiting from it.' This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF. This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
