The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) announced new funding for Product Development Partnerships including support to Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) for the development of new effective treatments for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in May 2026. DNDi are mapping and assessing opportunities for collaboration across the snakebite envenoming innovation landscape. FCDO also supports applied research for NTDs through the Coalition for Operational Research on NTDs.

To make the FCDO's research and development (R&D) more open and accessible, we have created a Global Research and Technology Development (GRTD) platform that pulls together our R&D portfolio. In May 2026 the FCDO published its Areas of Research Interest (ARI) highlighting where we are keen to develop and expand our evidence. Future funding opportunities will be advertised via GRTD Funding Opportunities.

Snakes are provided protection under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. This means that it is an offence to cause them any unnecessary suffering or to fail to provide for their welfare needs.

In England, the keeping of snakes in captivity, outside of zoos, is currently regulated by the Animal Welfare (Licencing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (LAIA). These Regulations require any business selling animals as pets - including snakes - to be licensed. Local authorities are responsible for granting these licences, and the licences must include a general condition requiring licensees to keep all animals in an environment suitable to their species and condition. The statutory guidance to local authorities contains details in relation to the minimum welfare standards that are considered appropriate for snakes, including minimum requirements relating to vivarium size.

The statutory five-year LAIA Post-Implementation Review (PIR) is due by October 2023. As part of this review, we will be seeking views and considering evidence on the minimum standards for the size of temporary vivaria for snakes in pet selling establishments.

The draft statutory guidance relating to pet sales that accompanies The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (the 2018 Regulations) contained two minimum accommodation size lengths for snakes in pet selling establishments. One was two thirds snake length and related to the minimum length of the enclosure in order to comply with the 2018 Regulations; and the other was 1x snake length which was the minimum length needed to attain the optional higher welfare standard.

During consultation on the draft guidance a group of specialist exotic animal veterinary and keeping professionals advised that there was no welfare basis for the higher welfare standard. We therefore withdrew the higher minimum welfare standard for snake accommodation sizes from the final published guidance. However, the minimum welfare size needed to comply with the 2018 Regulations remains at two thirds snake length. We have not made an estimate of the costs to businesses if they were required to increase the size of their snake enclosures.

The draft statutory guidance relating to pet sales that accompanies The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (the 2018 Regulations) contained two minimum accommodation size lengths for snakes in pet selling establishments. One was two thirds snake length and related to the minimum length of the enclosure in order to comply with the 2018 Regulations; and the other was 1x snake length which was the minimum length needed to attain the optional higher welfare standard.

During consultation on the draft guidance a group of specialist exotic animal veterinary and keeping professionals advised that there was no welfare basis for the higher welfare standard. We therefore withdrew the higher minimum welfare standard for snake accommodation sizes from the final published guidance. However, the minimum welfare size needed to comply with the 2018 Regulations remains at two thirds snake length. We have not made an estimate of the costs to businesses if they were required to increase the size of their snake enclosures.

Each year snakebites kill more than 80,000 people and at least 450,000 people are thought to suffer life-changing injuries such as loss of limbs and permanent disability.

There are major technical challenges for the production and distribution of anti-venoms in low- and middle-income countries, including lack of quality anti-venoms, high cost of anti-venoms, poor regulation, poor distribution policies and marketing of inappropriate or poor-quality anti-venoms.

DFID recently launched a £9 million Research programme to develop new snakebite treatments which will be effective against multiple species, affordable, stable in tropical temperatures and easy to use in local communities, to overcome some of the distribution challenges.

The UK Government recognises the importance of snakebite envenoming (the act of being poisoned) and is carrying out research in this area. DFID and the Medical Research Council are currently funding the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to develop a new ‘universal anti-venom’ to treat victims of any of 21 of the most venomous snakes that threaten human health in sub-Saharan Africa.

In addition, DFID launched a call for expressions of interest for the development of new technologies in March this year. New anti-venoms to treat snake bites were highlighted as one of the areas where research is needed. The intent is to develop anti-venom that can be stored safely at ambient temperature, avoiding the need for refrigeration.

The UK Government is currently supporting the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, funded by Medical Research Council and DFID, to develop a new 'universal antivenom' to treat victims of any of the most venomous snakes that threaten human health in sub-Saharan Africa.

DFID launched a call for expressions of interest for the development of new technologies on 30 March. This call highlights that DFID is particularly interested in a number of areas, including innovative technologies to improve health outcomes for the poorest living in low and middle income countries which are currently neglected by the global research and development community, such as new anti-venoms to treat snake bite.