Pain Killer from Sea Snail Saliva

Here is yet another example where biodiversity comes to our help, this time in the form of a very effective pain killer that holds great promise.

The new medicine is as effective as morphine but without the risk of addiction.

Snails inject the chemicals in the saliva into passing prey with hypodermic-needle-like teeth that shoot from their mouths like harpoons.

People with peripheral neuropathy stand to benefit immensely from the new discovery.

The bottom line is the need to conserve our biodiversity. We have only touched the tip of the ice-berg in our efforts to find new drugs derived from wild plants and animals. Sadly in the inexorable drive for “development” biodiversity id getting depleted at a fast  rate worldwide.

Details of the study appears in the latest issue of journal Chemical & Engineering News