VENOMITE - life saving snakebite treatments

My name is Aaron - I’m a biochemistry student at Oxford University, and the founder of Venomite.

Over 5 million people are bitten by snakes every year, and 500,000 are killed or injured.

Snakebite might seem like a minor issue when you live in the UK, but having spent several months working and living in Kenya, I’ve realised that snakebite is one of the most feared, significant medical concerns in developing countries across the planet.

The most affected countries are India, Brazil, and areas of south and east Africa - with many bites occurring in young children, local farmers and even tourists and military personnel in high risk countries.

I studied antivenoms during my stay in Kenya - and saw how they are not only unstable and variable in their efficacy, but also far too expensive for most people living in these countries. A single vial of antivenom can cost $3000, often only works against certain snake species, and has to be administered at hospitals many miles from most bites.

Many people die each year because they don’t get to hospital on time - for this reason, it’s likely that many more people are bitten each year, but no one records it.

I founded Venomite because I believe that with funding, collaboration and expert advice, we can make snakebite treatments that are affordable, portable and broadly effective against many species. I have a medicine in mind that I believe can achieve this!

Snakebite research is criminally underfunded, but I hope that initiatives like this can gather the attention needed to drive progress. I’m asking for a £10,000 donation, which I will use to pay for lab space, consumables and whole venoms for testing.

In the next 6 months, I will use these funds to gather “proof of concept” data - to show that my idea can work, and to drive further interest and funding. I aim to update Venomite’s progress regularly over Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, so you know exactly where our funding is going!

Thank you for your interest and support, and let’s work towards a future where snakebite is no longer feared!

For updates and further info, watch out for posts on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Tik Tok - @venomiteuk