Oasis of Al-Dakhla (Egypt) (AFP)

In his laboratory in the middle of the Libyan desert, the Egyptian engineer Ahmed Abou al-Seoud grabs a scorpion by the tail and applies an electric shock to it to obtain a drop of its venom, a poison with promising pharmacological properties.

The "Scorpion Kingdom", his company, surrounded by palm groves and ocher dunes, is located in the oasis of Dakhla, about 800 km southwest of Cairo.

In a two-story white building, thousands of scorpions were stored alive in colorful jars and arranged on shelves.

A mechanical engineer by training, Mr. Abou al-Seoud, 44, embarked in 2018 with his partner, Alaa Sabaa, in this scorpion venom extraction project.

"I was surfing the internet when I found by chance that the venom produced by scorpions was one of the most expensive, so I said to myself: + why not take advantage of this desert environment? +", Says the entrepreneur, installed in the governorate of Nouvelle-Vallée.

- Experimental production -

The potent toxin in scorpion venom, the result of hundreds of millions of years of natural evolution, is the subject of much scientific research.

"Dozens of bioactive molecules from scorpion (venom) have been identified as possessing promising pharmacological properties," according to a publication in the journal Biomedicines dated last May.

Laboratories are now studying their potential antimicrobial, immunosuppressive and anticancer effects, among others, in the hope that one day they can be turned into drugs.

If there are four or five types of scorpions in the Egyptian desert, the most common is the "Leiurus quinquestriatus", whose venom is composed of more than 45 elements.

Such a composition makes the product rare and expensive: it sells for around $ 7,000 per gram, according to Mr. Abu al-Seoud.

The engineer explains that a scorpion does not secrete more than half a milligram of venom every 20 or 30 days.

Thus, to produce one gram of poison, the quality of which depends on the degree of "purity", it takes between 3,000 and 3,500 scorpions.

And the life expectancy of the dangerous animal, whose bites can cause high fevers, and in some cases even death, can be up to 25 years.

Aware of the potential of this product, Mr. Abou al-Seoud ultimately aims to target the European market and its pharmaceutical groups.

In Dakhla, the first experimental production of the "Kingdom of the scorpions", carried out in December and January after two years of preparation, reached three grams of venom.

The extracted liquid was dried in a laboratory in Cairo and packaged as a powder.

In addition to this expensive substance, the company extracts bee venom and sells agricultural products and fragrant plants.

- Quality product -

But Mr. Abou al-Seoud bases all his hopes on scorpions and wants to give Egypt a "good image thanks to a quality product, scientifically studied, framed by law and authorized for export".

Nahla Abdel Hamid, a 25-year-old pharmacist employed by the company, assures us that in order "not to disturb the ecological balance", the inhabitants of the surrounding villages are called upon to hunt arachnids, at the level of inhabited areas only.

Mr. Abou al-Seoud, who devotes himself to the activity, trains one or two people per village and the teams of a special panoply: gloves, pliers, adapted shoes, fluorescent vests and anti-poison serums.

The "hunters" earn between one and 1.5 Egyptian pounds (five to eight euro cents) per scorpion captured.

As for Ms. Abdel Hamid, she classifies them "according to the area where they were chased and their type".

Although these animals can go without food for long periods, the veterinarian Imane Abdel Malek prefers to offer them a "favorable environment" by regularly providing them, up to twice a month, with "protein" food, in particular cockroaches and worms.

The company, a self-funded project that cost around five million pounds (262,600 euros), plans to phase out hunting for breeding.

While Egypt has been producing scorpion venom for years now, it is often produced illegally or of low quality, according to the project leader.

© 2021 AFP