SAPA (Johannesburg, S Africa) 14 April 05 Snake venom 'relieves pain'
Singapore: Venom from king cobras is being tapped to develop a new painkiller several thousand times more potent than morphine but without the addictive side-effects, developers said on Thursday.
Pro-Therapeutics, the biomedical company set up by three Singapore bodies to refine the drug and bring it to market, said it expects to test the painkiller on people in 18 months.
"This drug holds the promise of a novel therapeutic for pain management," the Economic Development Board (EDB) said in a statement published in The Business Times.
The drug can be taken by mouth, not just injection, said Pro-Therapeutics, working with technology that can biologically re-engineer proteins from king cobra venom to produce the painkiller.
The company, set up by the EDB, Agency for Science, Technology and Research and the National University of Singapore, is specialising in developing oral peptide drugs from the toxins of rare animals such as cobras and vipers.
Peptides are compounds that are constituent parts of proteins, said Pro-Therapeutics chief executive officer Howard Califano.
They can be used to treat conditions ranging from headaches to high blood pressure and even cancer, he said.
Snake venom 'relieves pain'