| Spider Pharm is a small, family owned business specializing in the production
of venoms from spiders and other arthropods. We are located in Yarnell, a small
town in pass in the Weaver Mountains, roughly 80 miles NW from Phoenix, Arizona.
The business was started in the early 1980s with a simple directive:
Promote
the exploration of spider venoms by making a wider variety of the venoms
available to laboratories with diverse interests.
Spider venoms were suspected to
be an incredibly large and diverse source novel material for pharmaceutical,
pesticide and basic physiological, ecological and behavioral research and
discovery yet, at the time, very few spider venoms were being studied.
Supply was very limited, the quality of the venom was poor and specialists,
researchers with the knowledge and capabilities to characterize the
molecular and physiological modes of action of the toxins, simply did not
have access to quantities and diversity of venoms that required for
discovery and research.
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Collect, acquire and become
familiar with hundreds of species of spiders and other venomous
arthropods.
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Develop and build facilities
for economic and efficient maintenance and breeding of tens of thousands
of spiders and other arthropods.
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Develop novel methods for
harvesting quality venoms efficiently
It took about three years to
solve many of the basic problems, from maggot nutrition so our spiders would
grow well, the need for custom containers that spiders liked and would allow
us to feed, water and sort thousands of spiders per hour to the
requirement for novel methods for milking spiders rapidly that also
protected the venom from contamination with regurgitate and hemolymph,
Much as changed since those early
days, though our basic directive and the kinds of challenges have not. There
is always something that can be done better and are we constantly challenged
to provide even more diversity for discovery.
Currently, the vast majority of
spider venom research is directed towards novel applications in research,
far more venoms are being explored and several significant discoveries have
been made. Some of these include the discovery of novel glutamate receptor
antagonists, selective and very useful antagonists of calcium and potassium
channels and the first known selective antagonists of stretch-activated and
acid-sensitive ion channels. These and other actives from spider venoms have
important roles in research dealing with problems as diverse as epilepsy,
diabetes, atrial fibrillation, urinary incontinence, brain damage from
stroke, chronic pain, malaria and the development of novel eco-friendly
biopesticides.
Media and Print
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Discover Magazine, 1991
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Time magazine, 31 July 2000
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Scientific consultants for
Arachnophobia
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Mythbusters, Episode 13,
February 15, 2004
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National Geographic TV
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National Geographic magazine
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New Yorker
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Wall Street Journal
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Bug Attack with Phil DeVries
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Animal Planet Network, 9 Mar
2003
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Ripley's Believe it or Not
(TV). June 2002
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Geo TV (Germany & France)
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(2002). Health - Spider Pharm -
Farmer Chuck Kristensen milks his livestock of 50,000 spiders for their
poison. Current Science. 88, 8
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