“Can drugs be made from scorpion venom?” is one of the questions asked most often when people discuss why scorpion venom is valuable. A sound answer requires separating two things: medicines that were developed from animal venoms and are in use today, and the place of scorpion venom in scientific research.
The short answer: there are approved medicines inspired by the venoms of animals such as snakes, lizards and sea snails. To our knowledge, however, no medicine developed from scorpion venom has been approved by the US (FDA) or European (EMA) medicines authorities; scorpion peptides are at the research and clinical study stage.
How does a venom become a medicine?
A venom is not a single substance but a mixture of many components. A large share of these components are small peptides that bind very selectively to ion channels, receptors or enzymes. It is this selectivity that interests drug research: a molecule that binds strongly and selectively to a specific target is a good starting point for understanding that target's role in the body and for designing new molecules that act on it.
The path from venom to medicine usually passes through these steps:
- Separating the crude venom into its components and finding the component of interest
- Determining the component's structure and the target it binds to
- Synthesising the molecule in the laboratory or designing a more stable derivative
- Laboratory studies, followed by clinical trials in phases
- Assessment and approval by the medicines authority
At the end of this path, it is usually not the venom itself but a synthetic copy of the venom molecule, or a new molecule designed after it, that becomes a medicine. The process can take decades, and the number of molecules that become medicines is very small compared with the number of components studied. For this reason, the manufacture of approved drugs does not depend on collecting venom from animals. The separation and identification steps are explained in detail in our article on venom research.
Examples of medicines developed from animal venoms
| Active substance | Animal that inspired it | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Captopril | A South American pit viper (Bothrops jararaca) | Synthetic molecule designed after peptides found in the venom |
| Eptifibatide | A pygmy rattlesnake species | Synthetic peptide derived from a disintegrin peptide in the venom |
| Tirofiban | Saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus) | Non-peptide molecule modelled on the structure of a venom peptide |
| Ziconotide | A cone snail (Conus magus) | Synthetic copy of a venom peptide |
| Exenatide | Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum) | Synthetic copy of a peptide from its secretion |
When and how these medicines are used depends on a physician's assessment. This article mentions them only to illustrate the scientific path from venom to medicine and does not contain any treatment advice.
Where does scorpion venom fit in?
Scorpion venom is particularly rich in peptides that bind to potassium, sodium and chloride channels. These peptides are important tool molecules for understanding how channels work in cells of the nervous and immune systems; studies on Kv1 channels are one example.
The best-known scorpion peptide to reach the clinical research stage is chlorotoxin. A fluorescent dye bound to chlorotoxin has been reported to be studied in clinical trials as an imaging agent intended to make certain tissues visible during surgery. This is an imaging approach, not a treatment; the scientific journey of the peptide is described in our article on chlorotoxin.
Why does the process take so long?
- Quantity: A single milking yields less than a milligram of venom from one scorpion, and the peptide of interest is only a small part of that amount. Enough material for research is therefore mostly obtained by synthesis; why venom is so valuable is explained in our article why scorpion venom is so expensive.
- Selectivity: A molecule that evolved to immobilise prey in nature has to be modified so that it acts only on the intended target.
- Stability: Peptides can break down quickly in the body. Preserving the disulfide bridges that hold the structure together and making the molecule stable is a research topic in its own right.
- Clinical research: Every candidate molecule must pass through phased and lengthy clinical trials; most candidates drop out along the way.
Crude venom is not a medicine
Crude scorpion venom is not a medicine or a supplement and is not used directly in humans or animals. The crude and lyophilized venom supplied by Scorpi Turk Venom is for research and industrial use only; the buyer's obligation to comply with these restrictions is explained in our article on buyer obligations. Antivenom preparation, one of the established uses of venom today, is covered in our article on antivenom production.
In the event of a scorpion sting, the only thing to do is to stay calm, keep the stung area still and call 112.
