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Algorithm
for Managing Snake Bites Image source: www.rationalmedicine.org
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Doctors Without Borders
says the world will run out of one of the most effective treatments for
snakebites next year, risking the lives of tens of thousands of people, mostly
in developing countries. In
a statement issued Monday, the medical charity warned that existing stockpiles
of the anti-venom Fav-Afrique produced by Sanofi Pasteur will expire in June.
The company stopped producing the anti-venom last year and has since switched
to making a rabies treatment at its facilities instead.
"We
are now facing a real crisis," Dr. Gabriel Alcoba, the charity's snakebite
adviser, said in a statement. The aid group, also known by its French acronym
MSF, said there would likely be no alternative available to replace the Sanofi
Pasteur snakebite treatment for at least two years.
AP report continues:
A
spokesman for Sanofi Pasteur said the pharmaceutical was driven out of the
market by competitors selling cheaper products and that they announced in 2010
they would stop making anti-venom.
"It's
very strange that (health officials) are only realizing this problem five years
later," said Alain Bernal, a Sanofi Pasteur spokesman. He said the company
has offered to transfer the anti-venom technology to others but "nothing
has materialized yet."
About
5 million people are bitten by snakes every year, including 100,000 deaths and
several hundred thousand others who suffer amputations or other disabilities.
When it's available, the anti-venom treatment typically costs US$250 to US$500.
Before a meeting this week
in Switzerland, MSF called for international agencies to ensure that snakebite
treatment is available where needed. MSF said that the World Health
Organization should play "a leading role" in solving the problem and
criticized the U.N. health agency for labeling snakebites as a neglected
condition and for failing to create a formal program to address the issue.
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