Collection of apitoxin
The collection of a considerable amount of Apitoxin is hard because a single bee contains only a very little amount of venom (0,1mg) and to extract it, the bee has to sting. Modern Technology and Techniques use mild electroshocks to induce the sting of the bees. As a consequence they eject the venom, which is collected on a glass plate. The traps for bee venom collecting are placed in front or directly in the hives. The big advantage is, that the collecting process is bee friendly and not harmful. A bee that stings into a soft surface like a skin can’t pull its barbed stinger out. Attempts to do so, the result is its death. However, when the bee stings into a hard surface like a glass, the stinger won’t get hurt. Shortly after, the bees return to their daily business of honey making.
Cleaning process
Once the collection process has finished, the bee venom dries on the glass, then the frame is transported to the processing room to collect the venom by scraping it off. Apitoxin is placed in a freezer in tightly closed bottles at a temperature of -20°C. This product is now available for any kind of research.
Bee venom is a rich source of pharmaceutically active components why it is not only used in Apitherapy but also in Allergology und Research against different diseases like for immune-related diseases like arthritis, asthma, Parkinson's disease, and more.
Alternatively Beevenom is packaged at a good manufacturing practice (GMP) facility.
Alternatively Beevenom is packaged at a good manufacturing practice (GMP) facility.
Purification of bee venom
The purification process of bee venom is challenging and requires different steps of separation and purification. But our effective method, developed by BioGenom, makes it possible to separate the allergen proteins from Melittin.
We are able to get a Melittin purity over 96%.
Even the other fractions are no waste, they are purified, too. Now we can isolate three peptides, but are working on increasing this number.
On the last step, the purified peptides were lyophilized to produce powder.
Challenges
The next most time-intensive step is the developing of syringe needels with purified bee venom for pharmakopunktur. Therefor we are in cooperation with university clinics for clinical studies.
After having good results in pharmacokinetic and toxicity we will be ready to produce syringe with isolated Melittin and purified bee venom.