Man Gets Bitten by Snakes Hundreds of Times, but Scientists Claim His Blood Could Help Them Create a Universal Antivenom

Snakebite is an ancient fear that still claims over 100,000 lives each year and hurts hundreds of thousands more. In areas where poisonous snakes roam close to human communities, medical help is often miles away, and even when antivenom is available, it can be expensive, and sometimes difficult to find, as it is species-specific. For a long time, experts have struggled to develop a single solution to combat the deadly and complex snake venom. Fast forward to the present, and a medical breakthrough might be just around the corner. All thanks to Tim Friede, stated Cell. He is a self-proclaimed reptile enthusiast who has endured over 200 snake bites and more than 700 venom injections, not accidentally but willingly.

For almost two decades, Friede has been on a mission to create immunity to the world’s deadliest snakes by injecting their venom into his body just out of simple curiosity. Black mambas, cobras, taipans, kraits, you name it, and he has faced them all. He remarked, "At first, it was very scary…But the more you do it, the better you get at it, the more calm you become with it…I wanted to push the limits as close to death as possible to where I’m just basically teetering right there and then back off of it," stated NBC News. This extreme experiment originated as a mere curiosity and out of a desire for self-protection.

He documented his journey on YouTube, where he showcased his difficult journey. Once during his quest, two cobra bites landed him in a deadly coma. As if this were not enough, another time, he lost part of a finger. He remarked, "I didn't want to die. I didn't want to lose a finger. I didn't want to miss work… It just became a lifestyle, and I just kept pushing and pushing and pushing as hard as I could push - for the people who are 8,000 miles away from me who die from snakebite," stated BBC.

His passion prompted him to reach out to scientists all around the globe. Eventually, he caught the attention of Columbia University’s Dr. Peter Kwong and Dr. Jacob Glanville of biotech firm Centivax. Kwong remarked, "Oh, wow, this is very unusual. We had a very special individual with amazing antibodies that he created over 18 years," as per NBC News. Their instincts were right.  Friede’s blood is now the main subject of a groundbreaking research. In a study published in Cell, experts isolated two antibodies from his blood that showed the ability to neutralize venom from a wide range of elapid snakes (this included cobras, mambas, and coral snakes).

The expert team added a third component to their formula, creating an experimental antivenom cocktail that protected mice from fatal doses of venom from 13 of the 19 deadliest elapid species identified by the WHO. What's their ultimate goal, you ask? A universal antivenom, or at least a pair that can tackle both neurotoxic and hemotoxic venoms. Friede is now working with Centivax for the medical revolution. He said, "I'm doing something good for humanity, and that was very important to me. I'm proud of it. It's pretty cool."