OK, it sounds from your name like you are the guy in the know, prescription wise- so as far as you can identify what anti venin he received, what CAN it be bought for online, here- OR in other countries?
You know what to look for, spend a few minutes and straighten us out.
Well, here's the thing. There's only two in the US; Antiveninâ„¢ and CroFab. Wyeth pharmaceuticals stopped making Antiveninâ„¢ because even they couldn't afford to keep sticking horses.
Crofab is the
only one available. That's how I know what he received.
At one big hospital where I worked, it cost the hospital around 2K. Another, crappier hospital paid much, much more for a vial. It really does vary.
Let's say the husband buys it online. He receives a powder in a glass vial. He then has to, somehow, reconstitute that powder with 10mL sterile water. Then, after he's pulled that off he needs to dilute it into a 250mL bag of 0.9% w/v saline. He now has just 4 hours to administer it to her IV (slow push for the 1st 10 minutes [50mL/hr max], then he can bump up el rate-o to 250mL/hr if she doesn't go into anaphylaxis)
Also, you can't forget to take CBC, along with clotting, bleeding, and coag times in order to make sure the stuff is actually working.
http://www.americanownews.com/story/19907160/antivenom-meds
An interesting article. I had no idea the CroFab manufacturing process was so complex.
Yeah, it's actually really interesting how that technology hasn't been improved upon.
Kinda reminds me of the "scrapings" used to make the first immunizations.