(andrew padula) snake bite is a really big problem in australia for animals. the dog, snake conflict it’s classic veterinary problem. it’s been estimated there’s over 6,000 cases of snake bite in animals in australia each year. i work in a geographic area where
snake venom vaccine for dogs, snake envenomation is quite a significant problem that we deal with. we need, as a veterinary profession, to be able to offer something a bit better than what is out there to our clients.
i was fortunate that csiro were able to offer an excellent range of services and facilities that nicely complemented working with this biological material to convert it into a pharmaceutical product. (prof george lovrecz) so andrew padula approached us, because he had an interesting project in his mind to develop a new snake anti venom, essentially, for dogs. unfortunately dogs have only a 20 per cent
chance to survive if they get bitten by a snake. this project became a nice collaborative arrangement between a small biotech company and csiro. our lab is really special and unique in the australian landscape, because we’ve got licences not just to make experiments in a fully controlled way, but also to produce final products as well. we were able to use the latest technologies, which made the anti venom more effective and also,
it made it even more cost effective compared to other drugs. definitely it’s an advantage for the small biotech company who would like to sell it. (andrew padula) what we’ve shown with this product is it has some interesting, powerful, neutralising properties against the toxins contained in snake venoms such as the tiger snake and brown snake that cause blood clotting disturbances. the project has worked very well with csiro.
we have successfully developed a very efficient processing technology, which should flow on to benefits for
veterinarians and, ultimately, pet owners at the end of the day. [music plays]
