Man who let snakes bite him helps discovery of antivenom

A snake's venom can paralyze and kill victims within hours, making them among the most feared creatures on the planet.

- Hannah Devlin

But Tim Friede, a former truck mechanic from Wisconsin, has self-administered more than 850 doses of venom from cobras, mambas, rattlesnakes and other deadly species in pursuit of a singular quest: to develop immunity to snake bites in the hope of helping scientists create a universal antivenom.

Now Friede's extreme 18-year experiment appears to have paid off. Scientists have used antibodies from his blood to create the most broadly protective antivenom to date, which could revolutionize the treatment of snake bites. Jacob Glanville, chief executive of the US biotech firm Centivax, said: "For a period of nearly 18 years, [Tim] had undertaken hundreds of bites and self-immunizations with escalating doses from 16 species of very lethal snakes that would normally kill a horse.

"It blew my mind. I contacted him because I thought if anyone in the world has these properly neutralizing antibodies, it's him."