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You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy<\/a> such as personalizing your experience and ads. <\/p>\n In March, two other snake-related fatalities<\/a> and several snakebites were reported across the state.<\/p>\n Three deaths in the span of two months in one state is significant, considering that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> reports an average of five snakebite deaths per year across the entire country.<\/p>\n Garcia wrote about the potential reasons for the increase in attacks<\/a> and how best to react when confronted with a rattler.<\/p>\n Given what appears to be an increased risk of getting bitten, I wondered why we can\u2019t hike with a lifesaving snakebite antidote in our pockets.<\/p>\n One company has been diligently working on something like that and claims to be inching ever closer.<\/p>\n Work on anti-venom pill<\/p>\n Ophirex, a Bay Area-based public benefit corporation, is working on such a solution.<\/p>\n Former Los Angeles Times scribe Louis Sahagun<\/a> wrote about the company\u2019s effort to bring its anti-venom antidote<\/a>, Varespladib, to the market in 2023.<\/p>\n Dr. Timothy Platts-Mills, Ophirex\u2019s chief medical officer and an emergency room physician who was trained at UCLA, provided Essential California with an update on this potentially game-changing drug.<\/p>\n Ophirex is one of the few entities worldwide working on anti-venom pill. The United Kingdom\u2019s Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine\u2019s Centre is also developing a set of two pills for trial in Brazil and Ghana next year, according to the London Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n What does the treatment do?<\/p>\n Varespladib is a rescue treatment for snakebites that works by neutralizing a key toxin in 95% of snake species, according to the company<\/a>. The pill is meant to be taken immediately after a bite in conjunction with anti-venom treatments at a hospital. The pill is not meant to replace a hospital visit, Platts-Mills said.<\/p>\n For those hours or miles before any professional medical treatment, the pill increases a bite victim\u2019s chances of survival.<\/p>\n How does it help?<\/p>\n Varespladib is particularly effective for American users as recent animal testing has shown a \u201csubstantive, large improvement\u201d in survival odds against some of the most common continental snakes, Platts-Mills said. Those serpents include six rattlesnake species and non-rattlers, such as the Copperhead, Water Moccasin (or Cottonmouth) and Eastern Coral snakes.<\/p>\n Testing and beyond<\/p>\n Platts-Mills said Varespladib was given clearance by the FDA to test its effectiveness on animals.<\/p>\n \u201cThe FDA recognized that really the thing that is needed is the treatment in the field, but that\u2019s actually quite difficult to study,\u201d Platts-Mills said, pointing to the randomness of when and where snakebites occur.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unethical to withhold antivenom (a life-saving drug) to test Varespladib\u201d on a human, he wrote in a follow-up email. \u201cIt\u2019s not feasible to have trial enrollment in places where people might get bitten by a snake, to consent them before they reach a hospital or clinic.\u201d<\/p>\n Ophirex\u2019s next goal is to get FDA approval for a treatement for humans and dogs. As many as 100,000 dogs are bitten by snake each year, according to the American Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals<\/a>.<\/p>\n The company plans to seek FDA approval for both human and dog treatments by late next year.<\/p>\n The short-term goal is to have backpackers and emergency personnel with easy access to these treatments.<\/p>\n The longer-term goal is to help save some of the roughly 81,000 people who die annually around the world from snakebites, according to the FDA.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a major public health problem, globally,\u201d Platts-Mills said. <\/p>\n The week\u2019s biggest stories (Robert Gauthier\/Robert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Air quality and the environmentCrime, courts and policingEducationEntertainment and media newsWhat else is going onMust readsOther meaty readsFor your downtime (Ron De Angelis\/For The Times)<\/p>\n Going outStaying inL.A. Timeless<\/p>\n A selection of the very best reads from The Times\u2019 143-year archive.<\/p>\n Have a great day, from the Essential California team<\/p>\n Jim Rainey, staff reporter How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>. Check our top stories<\/a>, topics<\/a> and the latest articles<\/a> on latimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When hiking, I don\u2019t usually carry a walking stick or weapon, but reading about the increasing number of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,2299,1085,891,2300,2297,340,2303,63,2302,1086,1459,2301,2298,74,225,315,688],"class_list":{"0":"post-285584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-civic-revolt","12":"tag-covid","13":"tag-covid-19","14":"tag-days","15":"tag-essential-california","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-l-a","18":"tag-los-angeles-times","19":"tag-may","20":"tag-pandemic","21":"tag-part","22":"tag-president-biden","23":"tag-red-county","24":"tag-san-diego","25":"tag-state","26":"tag-time","27":"tag-years"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Looking](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777125853_157_.jpeg\")
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Hugo Mart\u00edn, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters<\/p>\n