30 September 2023

Nope.


Definitely not!
While I appreciate the selfless effort made by big pharma to develop treatments for erectile dysfunction, but using a spider venom that can make one's penis fall off seems to be to be a bridge too far.

Call me old school about this, but I am extremely skeptical of such a treatment:

The venom of the Brazilian wandering spider (Phoneutria nigriventer) can cause necrosis of the penis – essentially, the death of penis tissue – which can sometimes require amputation.

It's a terrifying poison best avoided, yet research suggests that in smaller amounts, the venom could hold clues to the next Viagra.

The large dose of venom dished out by the spider in nature triggers erections in mammals that are very painful and that last much too long for their primary purpose. These abnormally extended boners are technically known as priapisms, and the venom adds nausea and abdominal cramps for good measure.

P. nigriventer is also known as the banana spider because it is commonly found on banana leaves. The arachnid's body can grow up to five centimeters in length, and its leg span sometimes stretches three times further than that. It's one of the most toxic spiders there is.

Nevertheless, scientists from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil have been able to develop a synthetic version of the molecule in the venom that causes the erection. It's called BZ371A, and has now been tested with some success on mice and rats: when put into a gel and spread on the groins of the animals, erections were triggered.

I'm surprised that this is being developed in Brazil.  Marketing a product as, "Giving you an erection, but your dick might fall off," seems to me to be an archetypal American marketing scheme.

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