For many years now, doctors have relied on aspirin to provide relief in patients suffering pain. But often times, aspirin does not do much to relieve excruciating pain. In such cases, opiate-derived pain relievers have been more effective. But due to their addictive nature among other risks, they cannot be used consistently on one patient. There is a flicker of hope though, as studies are going on to develop a venom-derived drug that will be able to ease excruciating pain without leaving any side-effects.

Scorpions are known to have very poisonous venom. Doctors intend to use the Israeli yellow scorpion which is one of the most potent species of scorpions to make the new drug. This scorpion contains more than 300 peptide toxins, natural substances which when in contact with sodium channels in the nervous and muscular system, cause these sodium channels to communicate pain. Doctors hope to be able to modify these toxins so that they are more specific and potent for particular pain-mediating channels.  They will then engineer chemical derivatives that mimic the scorpion toxins to produce high specificity pain killers.

If the new drug is successfully developed, it will be used for cuts and serious burns, among other pain-inducing conditions. A greater advantage of such a drug is that it will be safely eliminated from the body without leaving traces or causing side-effects.

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