What if your doctor told you that snake venom could help control your blood glucose? What if your doctor told you that saliva from a gila monster could help with your chronic pain? Do not worry; your doctor knows what he is talking about. Recently, new drugs have been added to the market, exenatides (Byetta/Amylin Lilly) and ziconotides (Prialt/Elan). These particular drugs are derived directly from lizards and snails. Exenatides are made from the saliva of a gila monster and is used in treating type 2 diabetes; they are first in a new class of drugs called incretin mimetics. Ziconotides are a synthetic equivalent to the venom in a marine snail, which is the first N-type voltage-sensitive calcium channel blocker used in the treatment of patients with unmanageable pain. These patients are typically for their pain due to an underlying pathology.

You may be asking yourself why they would look for treatment options in the mouth of a reptile. Or perhaps, who had that kind of time to test the saliva and venom for treatment possibilities? In actuality, antivenin medications have been available for more than 35 years, for the treatment of snakebites in emergency rooms. Antivenin is an antibody that is derived from horses and sheep that have been injected with nonlethal amounts of snake venom. Clotting enzymes from snake venoms have been used to treat thromboembolic diseases. Captopril was the first drug approved from snake venom in a series of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors to control blood pressure. The exenatides, which is making its way onto the market, has shown to slow gastric emptying, reduce food intake and control blood glucose levels. The most common exenatide is Byetta, which is used as an injection prior to meals for patients with type 2 diabetes. The medication should not be used after a meal and common side effects from an overdose include nausea, vomiting, dizziness, or symptoms of hypoglycemia.

When venom is used in manufacturing a drug it is rarely used in its pure form, for obvious reasons. Researchers see reptile venom as the beginning of possible medical breakthroughs. The reason for the future in the venoms is due to the fact that the venom peptides affect a wide range of membrane bound protein channels and receptors. One type of venom can block channels muscle cells use to receive signals, while another type can create a shock in the immune system which loosens blood vessel walls and causes bleeding. Current research is focusing on the genes active in the gland cells and reading the DNA sequence of the venom. This is a direct effect from the 2003 Nobel Prize winner, Roderick MacKinnon, who used tarantula and scorpion venom to aid in deciphering the structure and function of potassium ion channels in particular cells.

Why are we looking at venom for possible treatment options? The world is changing rapidly around us and with it comes changes in our bodies. The human race is evolving to adapt to their new surroundings and people are becoming more tolerant of medicinal practices that were used a decade ago. With all of the advancements in genomics and proteomics, doctors and pharmacists can be hopeful of revolutionary drugs that might be able to treat their patients who are not responding to current medications. To all of those scientists and researchers who are willing to look inside the mouth of a gila monster I say, good luck and watch your fingers.

Sara Jones, of Auburn, is a pharmacy technician