Who would have thought that a killer snail can literally kill a pain? This is how Dr. Baldomera M. Olivera presented his new discovery, now commercially known as Prialt.

Dr. Baldomero Olivera

Dr. Baldomero Olivera

Prialt is taken from cone snail’s venom which contains conotoxins. Dr, Baldomera and his team from University of Utah found out that the cone of of venomous marine snails characterized several dozen neurotoxins. This neurotoxins are now widely used in neuroscience research.

In 1992, Olivera’s team identified the analgesic-like qualities of conopeptide from the cone’s snail. An active ingredient called Ziconotide was found and later was made available to the public with a trade name  Prialt.

One of the available pain killer prior to Prialt is morphine. However, morphine is narcotic – a habit-forming substance (addictive)  and not readily available to anybody who need relief from extreme pain.

Unlike morphine, Prialt is not known to cause addiction and can lasts much longer in the system.

Dr. Olivera’s Achievement

Dr. Olivera is the Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of Utah since 1970. His  30 years of dedication to developing drugs from animal wildlife earned him this year’s “Scientist of the Year” award from the Harvard Foundation.

He started his colorful career after finishing his B.S. in Chemistry and earning Summa Cum Laude at the University of the Philippines in 1960. He further his specialization by finishing his PhD in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology with Dr. Norman Davidson.  After getting  his Phd, he did postdoctoral work at Stanford University with Dr. I. Robert Lehman.

Currently, Dr. Baldomera M. Olivera serves as director of Cognetix – a pharmaceutical and research company based in Utah which he founded 1996.

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