CHAPTER 5: Reptile Venoms as a Platform for Drug Development

Although generally considered a potential health threat, reptiles are sources for a myriad of proteins and peptides, originating from their orally secreted venoms, that can help improve human health. Venoms have evolved to allow predatory reptiles to rapidly incapacitate their mostly vertebrate prey, and they are complex mixtures of biologically active toxins with high specificity toward physiological targets. It is this specificity that makes reptile venoms excellent sources for lead molecules that can be developed into potential life-saving therapeutics. Drugs developed based on venom research have aided in the treatment of cardiovascular conditions such as hypertension and thrombotic disorders as well as in the control of diabetes, thereby saving countless lives. With recent advances in screening for drug leads and an immense but relatively untapped source of lead molecules, reptile venoms represent a potential cornucopia of therapeutics and research tools to improve human medicine.