Written by Rhea Joseph
Home to 52 species of venomous snakes, India has over 50,000 deaths yearly attributable to snakebite venom. Collectively known as the ‘Big Four’, the frequent krait (Bangarus caeruleus), Russell’s viper (Daboia russelli), the Indian saw-scaled viper (Achis carinatus), and the Indian cobra (Naja naja) are the 4 species identified to have suffered these casualties. accountable for almost all.
Currently, a polyvalent anti-venom technique is used to deal with snakebite victims, by which venoms from these 4 species are blended and injected into the host to elicit antibodies. As this will result in issues and uncomfortable side effects, now, Thiruvananthapuram-based startup Indriyam Biologics Pvt. Ltd. has provide you with a easy software that performs species-specific prognosis of snake venom.
“The polyvalent technique fails to determine the snake species and particularly fight its venom. This technique is counterproductive as a result of the affected person is uncovered to 3 different anti-venoms which are utterly pointless, resulting in issues and uncomfortable side effects. Dr Dilipkumar, Co-Founder, Indrium Biologics stated.
Indriyam Biologics, accredited by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) and Startup India, intends to handle this difficulty by way of its new monovalent snake-venom detection biosensor gadget, which detects when a snakebite is involved with a drop Is it toxic or non-toxic by evaluation. with the blood of the sufferer. It can be capable of differentiate between the species of snake and the quantity of venom circulating within the affected person’s physique.
The know-how was developed by Dr. Dilipkumar, co-founder of Indrium Biologics Dr. Anaswar Krishnan S and Dr. Oommen V. Oommen, Dr. Sudhakaran (University of Kerala), Dr. Joseph Ok. Joseph (Little) together with different certified fingers in snake remedy. Flower Hospital, Angamaly), Dr Vipin Nair, Dr Sudarlal S, and Dr Jaideep C Menon (Amrita University).
Apart from diagnostic gadgets, the Kerala startup can be creating snakebite kits following the lateral stream assay mannequin for speedy detection of snakebites.
Dilipkumar and Dr. Anaswara Krishna based Indriam Biologics in 2017 to revolutionize snakebite prognosis and therapeutics by rising scientific data and incorporating new technological protocols to make merchandise higher, safer and extra inexpensive.
(Riya Joseph is a trainee with indianexpress.com primarily based in Thiruvananthapuram)
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
