Big Pharma shrugs while Costa Rica fights snakebites

Costa Rica’s lead researcher on snakebites and anti-venom serums says the health problem is unattractive to pharmaceutical companies due to the low profit margin, reported the Spanish news agency Efe this week.

In an interview, Alberto Alape Giron, professor of biochemistry at the University of Costa Rica said: “It’s not profitable for these firms to manufacture anti-venoms and the profit margins are not so noteworthy because this kind of problem exists mainly in poor countries.”

Source: The Costa Rica Star