Snakebite treatment 'will run out next year'

Medical charity says stockpiles of anti-venom Fav-Afrique will expire in June with no alternative likely for at least two years

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders says the world will run out of one of the most effective treatments for snakebites next year, putting the lives of tens of thousands of people at risk, mostly in developing countries.

The aid group, also known by its French acronym MSF, has said that existing stockpiles of the anti-venom Fav-Afrique, produced by Sanofi Pasteur, will expire in June. The company stopped producing the anti-venom last year and has since switched to making a rabies treatment instead.