Sea snail venom: A potential alternative to Opioid Analgesics

Abstract

The marine environment is a large and complex source for novel medicines. Conopeptides are present in sea snail venoms that have been detected to block pain by activating a separate molecular mechanism exploited by opioid painkillers. Researchers created a chemical version of the peptide by studying the conopeptide of cone snail called Conus magus. The synthetic form of the hydrophilic conopeptide 5-007-MVIIA used in the Pacific fish-hunting snail toxin, Conus magus, is ziconotide (also known as SNX-111). Intrathecal ziconotide is indeed a new, useful, and long-lasting dosage form that can be used for symptomatic relief of extreme persistent cancerous as well as non-malignant pain. It has been approved as an analgesic by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration and is currently used in the United States. The complications usually induced by opioids in pain treatment are likely to be overcome by using this analgesic agent.