New techniques in antivenom production and active immunization against snake venoms.

Standard methods of commercial antivenom production are costly both in terms of animals, their maintenance, the use of large amounts of expensive venoms and man-hours. The basic technology, which involves the hyperimmunization of horses, bleeding and subsequent purification of the plasma immunoglobulin G (IgG) using salt precipitation and pepsin digestion, has not advanced significantly for many years. In most cases monospecific (animal immunized against a single venom) or polyspecilic (animal immunized against a mixture of different venoms) antivenoms are used in developing countries where snake bite is a serious problem. Funds for purchase of such drugs are of necessity limited; this can therefore result in relatively low profit margins with associated frequent inadequate quality control and substandard products.