Snails which are known to be “palay” killer of the farmers are now presented as pain killer, commercially known as Prialt.
Prialt, which is discovered by Dr. Baldomero M. Olivera, is taken from cone snail’s venom which contains conotoxins. Dr, Baldomero and his team from University of Utah found out that the cone of venomous marine snails characterized several dozen neurotoxins. These neurotoxins are now widely used in neuroscience research.
Way back in the year 2002, Olivera’s team identified the analgesic-like qualities of conopeptide from the cone’s snail. An active ingredient called Ziconotide was found and later was made accessible to the public with a trade name: Prialt.
One of the available pain killers prior to Prialt is morphine. However, morphine is narcotic – a habit-forming substance (addictive) and not readily available to anybody who need relief from extreme.
The rice killer, which is hate by farmers, can now be loved as one of the elements of the newest pain killer, Prialt. [via entrepreneur.com.ph]