A new antivenom may neutralize 13 of the world’s deadliest snakebites

There are 600 species of venomous snakes across the world, and their bites account for over 130,000 deaths annually and three times that number of permanent disabilities, mostly in Asia and Africa. Because of the diversity of toxins, most antivenoms work against the venom of only a single species in a specific region, and possibly closely related species. Scientists have been working for decades to produce a broad-spectrum antivenom that would work across different types of toxins, but this approach has proven difficult.In a new study, researchers report a proof of principle of an antivenom cocktail that provides protection to mice against bites from 19 species of snakes categorized as among the most deadly by the World Health Organization. All the snakes belong to the Elapidae family, which accounts for about half the venomous species of snakes (Cell 2025, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.03.050).For their work, the team used the blood of a hyperimmunized individual, herpetologist Timothy Friede, who had systematically exposed himself to the venom of numerous species of snakes over a period of 18 years. “I felt that if we could go and find those antibodies [giving him the excellent immunity], we could identify a cocktail of these,” says study coauthor Jacob Glanville, immunoengineer and CEO of the biotechnology firm Centivax. (Friede is the company’s director of herpetology.) The research team isolated DNA from Friede’s cells and created a library of more than a billion antibodies. The idea was to find the ultrabroad antibodies that protect against critical neurotoxins in snake