Antidote for slate snakes

March 12, 2024

Scientists have found a universal antidote to the deadly venom of aspid snakes. There are 384 species within this group, including the most dangerous ones: the king cobra, the black mamba, and the Indian krait. Initially, scientists isolated and compared the venom proteins of different aspid snakes. They discovered that all of them contain a toxin that causes paralysis. Then, biologists studied a library containing over 50 billion various human antibodies in order to find an antidote, and eventually identified the most suitable one - 95Mat5. Its efficacy was tested on mice injected with toxins from venomous snakes. In all cases, the rodents were protected not only from death and paralysis but also from other complications.