the Food and Drug Administration approved the first treatment specifically for the sting of the Centruroides scorpion, the most common type in the United States.

The biologic treatment—called Anascorp—was given a priority review because adequate treatment did not exist in the United States, says Karen Midthun, M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

“This product provides a new treatment for children and adults and is designed specifically for scorpion stings,” Midthun says. “Scorpion stings can be life-threatening, especially in infants and children.”

Severe stings can cause loss of muscle control and difficulty breathing, requiring heavy sedation and intensive care in a hospital. Most often, it’s small children who experience severe reactions, but adults can be affected, too, says Keith Boesen, managing director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center (APDIC).

Boesen says Arizona’s two poison centers document about 11,000 scorpion stings each year; 17,000 stings were reported to U.S. poison centers nationwide in 2009.

“We at the APDIC and University of Arizona College of Pharmacy are very excited (about Anascorp’s approval). I am proud of the expertise of the pharmacists and physicians working at the APDIC who helped make this research possible,” he says.

Anascorp was developed in Mexico and has been used there for many years, according to University of Arizona researchers who led the U.S. study of the drug. It’s made from the plasma of horses immunized with scorpion venom and vaccinated against viruses that could infect humans. Researchers began studying the drug in Arizona hospitals in 2004 and found it to be highly effective against the sting of the bark scorpion (also called the Arizona bark scorpion)—the most poisonous scorpion in the U.S.

Without Anascorp, children experiencing the most severe symptoms usually had to stay in intensive care in the hospital for several days; but when Anascorp was administered, researchers found patients’ symptoms disappeared after a few hours in the emergency room—eliminating the need for a hospital stay.