“Biotoxins have been used in war and terrorism since the beginning of civilization,” said Mishra, professor of neurology at the Keck School of Medicine. “The ancient Indian literature has described using snake venom and poisonous arrows against enemies. History holds many of these accounts.”
Mishra recently presented a historical tour and description of biological weapons at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Honolulu. As outgoing chair of the McHenry Award subcommittee of the Academy’s history section, and now chair of the American Neurological Association’s history section, Mishra has a unique perspective on lessons to be learned from the past.
Poisons are part of a deadly heritage. As far back as 1000 B.C., Chinese fighters poisoned drinking water with arsenic, Mishra said. The Assyrians in 600 B.C. poisoned their enemies’ water, as well, but with rye ergot—a fungus growing on grains that can cause gangrene, convulsions and eventually death.
At about the same time, among the ancient Greeks, Solon of Athens is said to have used hellebore roots—a purgative—to poison an aqueduct during the siege of Cirrha. And accounts indicate that the Carthaginians slipped mandrake root into the wine of their enemies.
The ancients also used noxious smoke to subdue their foes, Mishra continued. The Chinese are said to have pumped arsenic fumes with bellows toward their opponents. Some even used animals as weapons: Hannibal’s army, for example, hurled pots of snakes onto the ships of King Eumenes of Pergamus.
"Despite financial difficulties after World War II, the business began to thrive again, pioneering a new approach to drug design. Successful products included the first leukaemia drug, immune suppressants for organ transplants, and antivirals such as AZT, the first drug approved to treat HIV.
Towards the end of the 20th century, the Wellcome Trust decided to sell the company, which is now part of GlaxoSmithKline and no longer has any ownership or governance relationship with Wellcome. We do work with GlaxoSmithKline, as we work with many other healthcare companies, when it helps us to achieve our mission."
https://wellcome.org/who-we-are/history-wellcome
"Until recently, our shareholders were predominantly individual investors. These individuals invested in Ophirex in large part because of our commitment to address the medical need presented by snakebite — especially in under-resourced areas — as well as diseases and conditions with related mechanisms of illness and injury, to the extent we are capable.
In recognition of our development efforts, we have also won multiple grants from the U.S. Department of Defense and an award from the Wellcome Trust.
WHO Roadmap Aims to Reduce Envenoming Burden; Cites Varespladib
As population growth and climate change bring snake and human environments ever closer together, the threat of snake envenoming to humans and domestic animals is increasing. In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognized the devastating harm inflicted by venomous snakes when it added envenoming to its list of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD). Today, fatalities due to envenoming nearly surpass those of most other diseases on the NTD list combined.
The WHO’s 2019 roadmap for reducing the burden of envenoming encouraged development of new technologies. Ophirex’s varespladib answers that call and, in 2019, was specifically and affirmatively cited by the WHO Snakebite Envenoming Working Group as warranting accelerated development.
The roadmap’s success requires a relentless effort from all parts of the globe. We are grateful to the many individuals and organizations that have helped us in our progress."
https://www.ophirex.com/funding-and-collaboration
Here are some of my shownotes:
Mishra recently presented a historical tour and description of biological weapons at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Honolulu. As outgoing chair of the McHenry Award subcommittee of the Academy’s history section, and now chair of the American Neurological Association’s history section, Mishra has a unique perspective on lessons to be learned from the past.
Poisons are part of a deadly heritage. As far back as 1000 B.C., Chinese fighters poisoned drinking water with arsenic, Mishra said. The Assyrians in 600 B.C. poisoned their enemies’ water, as well, but with rye ergot—a fungus growing on grains that can cause gangrene, convulsions and eventually death.
At about the same time, among the ancient Greeks, Solon of Athens is said to have used hellebore roots—a purgative—to poison an aqueduct during the siege of Cirrha. And accounts indicate that the Carthaginians slipped mandrake root into the wine of their enemies.
The ancients also used noxious smoke to subdue their foes, Mishra continued. The Chinese are said to have pumped arsenic fumes with bellows toward their opponents. Some even used animals as weapons: Hannibal’s army, for example, hurled pots of snakes onto the ships of King Eumenes of Pergamus.
https://news.usc.edu/1872/Since-ancient-times-biological-weapons-have-been-part-of-man-s-arsenal/
"Despite financial difficulties after World War II, the business began to thrive again, pioneering a new approach to drug design. Successful products included the first leukaemia drug, immune suppressants for organ transplants, and antivirals such as AZT, the first drug approved to treat HIV.
Towards the end of the 20th century, the Wellcome Trust decided to sell the company, which is now part of GlaxoSmithKline and no longer has any ownership or governance relationship with Wellcome. We do work with GlaxoSmithKline, as we work with many other healthcare companies, when it helps us to achieve our mission." https://wellcome.org/who-we-are/history-wellcome
In recognition of our development efforts, we have also won multiple grants from the U.S. Department of Defense and an award from the Wellcome Trust.
WHO Roadmap Aims to Reduce Envenoming Burden; Cites Varespladib As population growth and climate change bring snake and human environments ever closer together, the threat of snake envenoming to humans and domestic animals is increasing. In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognized the devastating harm inflicted by venomous snakes when it added envenoming to its list of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD). Today, fatalities due to envenoming nearly surpass those of most other diseases on the NTD list combined.
The WHO’s 2019 roadmap for reducing the burden of envenoming encouraged development of new technologies. Ophirex’s varespladib answers that call and, in 2019, was specifically and affirmatively cited by the WHO Snakebite Envenoming Working Group as warranting accelerated development.
The roadmap’s success requires a relentless effort from all parts of the globe. We are grateful to the many individuals and organizations that have helped us in our progress." https://www.ophirex.com/funding-and-collaboration
“The worshipful society of apothecaries…” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worshipful_Society_of_Apothecaries
“Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should dwell.”