Wellcome Snakebite Innovation Prize

International prize to tackle critical challenges and improve outcomes for people affected by snakebite in high-burden settings.

A new £6.25 million challenge prize, the Wellcome Snakebite Innovation Prize, aims to improve outcomes for people affected by snakebite in high-burden settings. Each year, there are up to 2.7 million cases of people bitten by venomous snakes and estimates show that more than 100,000 people die from snakebites annually, despite most snakebite deaths being preventable. Approximately 400,000 people who survive a venomous snakebite are left with life-changing disabilities every year. The impact of snakebite is greatest among rural, poor and agrarian communities predominantly in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, South-East Asia and Latin America. 

The initiative, funded by Wellcome and delivered by Challenge Works, is calling for innovators to tackle critical challenges and improve outcomes for people affected by snakebite in high-burden settings by strengthening community responses, accelerating access to appropriate care or improving the delivery of treatment. It is designed to elevate snakebite as a global health priority and demonstrate the power of innovation in tackling its distinct challenges. The prize aims to:

• Advance ideas with the potential to make near-term transformative impacts on the snakebite patient journey in high-burden countries.
• Develop a more mature and diverse snakebite innovation landscape by supporting new multi-sector, multidisciplinary and international teams of innovators to tackle challenges in creative ways.
• Raise the profile of snakebite as a global health issue and showcase the potential of innovation to address its unique challenges.

There is a need for practical, diverse solutions, such as improvements in logistics, community trust, first aid and referral systems. Innovations are needed across the patient journey in order to support better community responses, help people receive appropriate care faster, diagnose and assess the type of care they need, and improve the quality of medical care snakebite patients receive.

The scheme is a challenge prize. Challenge prizes spark innovation by rewarding those who can most effectively solve a defined problem. Unlike a recognition prize, rather than rewarding past achievements, they act as an incentive for meeting a specific challenge, setting clear goals and success criteria that encourage diverse problem-solving approaches. Through a public competition, they tap into the broadest possible range of ideas from diverse problem-solvers, thereby enabling anyone who can address the challenge to engage and participate.

In-scope solutions include, but are not restricted to:

• Diagnostics: Rapid bedside point-of-care tools to detect venom or distinguish envenoming (eg lateral flow or blood clotting tests).
• Supportive Care: Interventions addressing acute tissue damage (wound dressings, debridement tools) or hardware/systems for airway and respiratory support in neurotoxic envenoming.
• Supply Chain/Logistics: Predictive analytics software to forecast hotspots based on snake migration data, drone delivery networks and cold-chain mini chillers.
• Clinical Decision-Making: Digital treatment protocols and smartphone workflow apps for facility staff, or telemedicine networks connecting rural clinicians with expert toxinologists.

There is a two-track approach that creates distinct pathways – one for new/repurposed ideas to develop to proof-of-concept (Launch Track), and another for more mature solutions with an opportunity for innovation to help them reach scale (Growth Track).