Surrounded by thousands of live scorpions in a laboratory deep in Egypt’s Western Desert, Ahmed Abu al-Seoud carefully handles one of the curved-tailed arachnids before extracting a drop of its venom.
A mechanical engineer who worked in the oil sector for almost two decades, Abu al-Seoud decided in 2018 to strike a different path — producing scorpion venom for pharmaceutical research purposes.
“I was surfing the Internet and saw scorpion venom was one of the most expensive on the market,” said the 44-year-old, clad in a white lab coat.
Photo: AFP
“So I thought to myself: Why not take advantage of this desert environment where they roam around?” he added.
Biomedical researchers are studying the pharmaceutical properties of scorpion venom, making the rare and potent neurotoxin a highly sought-after commodity, produced in several Middle Eastern countries.
“Dozens of scorpion-derived bioactive molecules have been shown to possess promising pharmacological properties,” said a review published in May last year in the online journal Biomedicines.
It said that labs are studying its potential anti-microbial, immuno-suppressive and anti-cancer effects, among others, hoping to one day use or synthesize them for medicines.
Abu al-Seoud is from the Dakhla oasis, in Egypt’s vast New Valley province and about 800km southwest of the capital, Cairo.
Sand dunes and towering palms surround his laboratory, which he affectionately calls the “Scorpion Kingdom.”
“Here, every family has a story about a scorpion sting,” Abu al-Seoud said.
To get the animals to secrete venom in the controlled conditions of the lab, the scorpions are given a slight electric shock.
Workers wait 20 to 30 days between extractions to obtain the highest quality venom.
“What matters is the level of purity,” Abu al-Seoud said, adding that 1g requires the venom of 3,000 to 3,500 scorpions.
The liquid is refrigerated and transported to Cairo, where it is dried and packaged for sale as powder.
The government-certified laboratory has the ability to export “this unique product,” said 25-year-old Nahla Abdel-Hameed, a pharmacist who works at the center.
Abdel-Hameed referred to some scientific studies that explored the healing benefits of the venom in curing certain diseases.
Mohey Hafez, a member of the pharmaceutical chamber at the Federation of Egyptian Industries, was more cautious in his assessment of its current uses.
“Scorpion and snake venoms can be used in making antisera,” he said.
“There is no ready-made medication that entirely depends on the venom as a direct ingredient, but there has been promising research into its uses,” he added.
New Valley province boasts of about five different species of scorpions, including the sought-after deathstalker, whose venom sells for up to US$7,500 per gram, according to Abu al-Seoud.
While he himself also catches the creatures, he employs residents of nearby villages for the risky activity, equipping them with gloves, tweezers, boots, UV lights — and antivenom.
The scorpion hunters earn 1 to 1.5 Egyptian pounds (US$0.06 to US$0.10) per animal.
Abdel-Hameed said that the arachnids are caught in residential areas so as not to harm “the ecological balance.”
There are plans to breed the scorpions rather than catch them, colleague Iman Abdel-Malik said.
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