Public production as a key factor for access to antivenoms in the Region of the Americas

Abstract

Injuries caused by venomous animals affect vast areas of Latin America, Southern Asia, Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Oceania, and pose a serious problem for global public health. Based on an analysis of the current panorama of global production of ophidian and arachnid antivenoms, it is concluded that they are semi-orphaned products. This is a favorable scenario in which to strengthen public laboratory production. Governments should make a political decision in this regard in the interest of equity in population health. In the Region of the Americas, these actions could be part of a program led by the Pan American Health Organization to ensure the availability of these biologicals in strategically located health centers. Twelve public facilities producing antivenoms have been identified in the Region, including Brazil and Mexico, which are the biggest public producers. These laboratories should be managed like industrial operations that produce tangible goods without ignoring strategic planning. National regulatory authorities should help the public laboratories that produce them by providing necessary technical assistance and consultancy without any loss of impartiality or rigor in the evaluation of their quality management systems. New superior production technologies using hyperimmune mammalian plasma are in the experimental phase; no information on its production has been found in the literature.