Venom in medicine is the medicinal use of venoms for therapeutic benefit in treating diseases.

Venom is any poisonous compound secreted by an animal intended to harm or disable another. When an organism produces a venom, its final form may contain hundreds of different bioactive elements that interact with each other inevitably producing its toxic effects.^[1] This mixture of ingredients includes various proteins, peptides, and non-peptidic small molecules.^[2] The active components of these venoms are isolated, purified, and screened in assays. These may be either phenotypic assays to identify component that may have desirable therapeutic properties (forward pharmacology) or target directed assays to identify their biological target and mechanism of action (reverse pharmacology).^[3]

Background

Venoms are naturally occurring substances that organisms evolved to deploy against other organisms, in defense or attack.^[2] They are often mixtures of proteins that act together or singly to attack their specific targets within the organism against which they are used, generally with high specificity and generally easily accessible through the vascular system.^[2] This has made venoms a subject of study for people who work in drug discovery.^[2] With developments in omic technologies (proteomics, genomics, etc.), researchers in this field became able to identify genes that produce certain elements in an animal's venom, as well as protein domains that have been used as building blocks across many species.^[2] In conjunction with methods of separation and purification of compounds, scientists are able to study each individual compound that exists within a venom "concoction", looking for compounds to serve as drug leads or other use.^[2] Each venomous organism produces thousands of different proteins giving access to millions of different molecules that still have potential uses. In addition, nature is continuously evolving; as prey develop resistance to these venoms, the predators also evolve as well, creating novel toxins that can continue to act upon its respective prey.^[4]

History

The earliest known use of venom in medicine dates back to 380 B.C. in ancient Greece.^[5] Aristotle's "Historia Animalium", describes how venom can be used in the production of antidotes for the venom.^[5] During the height of the Roman empire, there is evidence of venom being added into medicine used to treat smallpox, leprosy, fever, and wounds.^[5] Despite this, early uses of venom were primarily involved in the process of making antidotes. This use of venom continued into the Middle Ages and well into the 19th century. The first modern study of venom in a medical light occurred in the late 19th century. A scientist, Albert Calmatte, injected animals with small amounts of venom, using their blood as the antidote.^[5]

Marketed drugs

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Further reading