Past, present, and future immunotherapy of snake venom poisoning.

Management of snake venom poisoning with antivenin has been the time-proven and medically accepted standard in virtually every country, including the United States. All antivenins are equine in source, and administration to patients exposes them to all the adverse effects of heterologous antisera. The purity and specificity of neutralizing antibody titers in antivenin products vary among manufacturers. Research in the early 1980s demonstrated that immunosorbent affinity chromatography could purify a highly specific IgG(T) from equine hyperimmune antisera. This IgG(T) provided superior efficacy and reduced adverse effects as compared to commercial antivenin. The advent of newer biotechnical processes has now opened the doors for novel antibody and antibody fragment treatment of snake venom poisoning.