Snakebite anti-venom ‘will run out next year’

Doctors Without Borders says the world will run out of one of the most effective treatments for snakebites next year, risking the lives of tens of thousands of people, mostly in developing countries.

In a statement, the medical charity warned that existing stockpiles of the anti-venom Fav-Afrique produced by Sanofi Pasteur will expire in June. The company stopped producing the anti-venom last year and has since switched to making a rabies treatment at its facilities instead.

“We are now facing a real crisis,” Dr. Gabriel Alcoba, the charity’s snakebite adviser, said in a statement.