Promise of Ajwa date-based snake bite cure in new SQU patent

An Oman-based professor and a doctor from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) claim to have invented an effective cure for snake bites.

Prof. Ali Al Jabri and Dr. Sidgi Syed Anwar Hassan from the College of Medicine & Health Sciences, immunology division, have been working for more than 10 years to look for an adequate treatment for snake bites in the Sultanate.

“We have been working since 2008, but it was in 2011 that we started to receive a positive response using an Ajwa date-based composition for the treatment of snake bites. So far, the results have been extremely satisfying giving us effective results,” said Hassan.

“The invention relates to treatments of snake envenomation, and particularly to a method of making an Ajwa date-based composition that uses an ethanolic extract of date fruits from the Ajwa date to treat local haemorrhage and accumulation of fluids induced by snake bites,” said Al Jabri.

He added that envenoming by snakes such as vipers and cobras is responsible for several clinical complications of severe systemic and local pathology.

“Viper bites lead to inflammation that includes swelling, blistering and necrosis, and haemorrhages due to various enzymes. Cobra bites include local necrosis, haemorrhage, complement depletion and respiratory arrest or paralysis,” said the professor.

The rational of the current invention was, therefore, to search for an agent that fulfilled the drawbacks associated with the current anti-venom. The new method invented by Al Jabri and Hassan using the Ajwa date as an effective agent will prevent both death and clinical complications for the treatment of local haemorrhage caused by snakes.

“We are hoping that this can also be applicable against other venomous living creatures that include scorpions, sea snakes, poisonous frogs, spiders and many more. The end users of this invention can be tourists, soldiers, among others, who may be at risk of being exposed to poisonous creatures,” Al Jabri said.

For this invention, SQU also received a new patent “Method of Making an Ajwa Date-Based Treatment for Snake Envenomation.” The patent application for this invention was filed on May 25, 2017, and registered from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.