| The first antivenom was prepared by Calmette in 1894. More than a century later, it is still the only specific treatment for envenoming. The methods currently used by almost all antivenom producers worldwide to isolate and concentrate antivenom antibodies and their enzymatically derived fragments are improvements of those originally developed by Pope in 1938. Several new alternatives have been proposed to produce F(ab')2 or Fab antivenoms to improve their purity, neutralizing potency, and safety and to overcome the problems encountered in the production protocols based on ammonium sulfate precipitation of equine immunoglobulin. These include complete or partial modifications in the antivenom production regarding animal producers (ovine, laying hens...),... |
