Making Australian Antivenoms

Australia has some of the most venomous creatures in the world and our collaborative partners at Seqirus have the unique role of being Australia's only manufacturer of antivenoms for humans. For the first time, you can go behind the scenes in this new documentary to discover how these essential medicines are made.

Antivenoms are purified antibodies against venoms or venom components. Antivenoms are produced from antibodies made by animals to injected venoms. Australia was one of the first countries in the world to experiment with snake antivenoms, in 1898, when Frank Tidswell commenced immunization of a former ambulance horse with tiger snake (N. scutatus) venom. While methods have been modernised, antivenom remains the only definitive treatment for effective bites by venomous Australian snakes.

Most Australian antivenoms are produced using horse-derived antibodies.

Today, all Australian antivenoms for humans are made by Seqirus. The AVRU team is proud to partner with Seqirus to test how their antivenoms work against specific snake venoms and to distribute these life-saving medicines to where they're needed most across Papua New Guinea.

The Making of Antivenom, is a new documentary that gives us the opportunity to go behind the scenes and see both how these life-saving antivenoms are made so that they're available when they're needed most.

To learn more about venomous creatures and the correct first aid to apply in case of a venomous bite or sting, please download the free Australian Bites & Stings App that the AVRU team has helped to develop for the general public. For further information on venomous bites and stings please speak to your doctor.

You can download the Australian Bites & Stings app for free on both Apple and Android devices.

For more information visit: Australian Bites & Stings at Seqirus.