Mr Adam Westhorpe

Research interests

I’m investigating the use of small molecule inhibitors as potential therapies for treating snakebite, in particular the repurposing of compounds that have stalled at points along the therapeutic development pipeline. I am focused on in vitro assays to identify promising lead compounds, which are then passed through several developmental pipelines to improve their efficacy or druggability.

Selected research publications

Development of an oral regimen of unithiol for the treatment of snakebite envenoming: a phase 1 open-label dose-escalation safety trial and pharmacokinetic analysis in healthy Kenyan adults. – Journal: eBioMedicine – Published: 27th February 2025

Optimizing drug discovery for snakebite envenoming via a high-throughput phospholipase A2 screening platform – Journal: Frontiers in Pharmacology – Published: 11th January 2024

Snakebite drug discovery: high-throughput screening to identify novel snake venom metalloproteinase toxin inhibitors – Journal: Frontiers in Pharmacology – Published: 11th January 2024

Repurposed drugs and their combinations prevent morbidity-inducing dermonecrosis caused by diverse cytotoxic snake venoms – Journal: Nature Communications – Published: 14th December 2023

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