2025-07-29T10:30:00Z

---

What if I told you that a man willingly let venomous snakes bite him over 200 times? That's exactly what Tim Friede did, and believe it or not, his journey through pain is paving the way for potentially life-saving medical breakthroughs!

Tim Friede is no ordinary snake enthusiast; he remembers every harrowing detail of the bites he endured, starting with a sizzle of pain from an Egyptian cobra, followed swiftly by another bite from a monocled cobra. Both snakes are infamous for their lethal venom, and Friede's experiences were anything but accidental.

“Was it stupid? Yes,” he admits, but his motivation stemmed from a deeper purpose: science. His mission? To help others survive snakebites by building immunity through a process known as 'self-immunization.' This method involves milking venom from snakes and then injecting small doses into his body, gradually increasing the amounts over time.

Imagine a scene from The Princess Bride, where Westley builds immunity to the fictional iocane powder. That’s essentially what Friede was doing, according to Jacob Glanville, president and CEO of the biotech company Centivax. Over the years, he painstakingly injected venom from more than a dozen of the world’s most dangerous snakes — including black mambas and rattlesnakes — right into his bloodstream.

After his very first pair of cobra bites nearly put him in a coma, you’d think he would have called it quits. But instead, Friede survived and thrived, equipping his body to withstand what would have been lethal encounters without his prior venom exposure. Think of it as an extreme, yet painful vaccine!

Normally, when we think of vaccines, we picture doctors injecting harmless bits of viruses to stimulate immunity. In Friede’s case, his body has been flooded with a unique cocktail of antibodies that could one day save others from fatal snakebites. These antibodies can neutralize snake venom, leading to a groundbreaking development in antivenom.

Glancing over the horizon of medical innovation, Glanville’s team has utilized the extraordinary antibodies found in Friede’s blood to create a new antivenom. Their findings were published in the June 12 issue of Cell, revealing that this antivenom cocktail can effectively neutralize the effects of venom from 13 different snake species, with partial protection against six more.

But don’t get too excited just yet. While this research is promising, the antivenom remains experimental and has yet to undergo rigorous testing for safety and efficacy in humans. Scientists are eager to refine this antivenom, which could target multiple venom types instead of creating a separate antidote for each of the 600 species of venomous snakes worldwide.

Interestingly, Friede's remarkable journey began when he was just five years old, following his very first snakebite. It’s been a long road of meticulous self-experimentation that culminated in his retirement from snakebites and venom injections in 2018, having logged a staggering 202 bites and 654 immunizations. Now at 57, he’s healthy, regularly checked for liver and kidney health, and has left the dangerous world of snake venom behind.

The future seems bright for snakebite victims, with researchers looking to collaborate with veterinary groups to create treatments for our four-legged friends suffering from similar snake encounters. As Glanville puts it, “Tim did something remarkable, and we think it could change medicine.” However, he warns, “We are actively discouraging anybody from trying it. No one ever needs to do it again.”