• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.125-144
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• 2016

Objectives : About 13% of the medicines used by traditional korean medicines(TKM), are called animal medicines and are derived from non-herbal sources such as animals and insects. However, the clinical use of these preparations from animal medicines is often based on tradition and belief, rather than on evidence of toxicity and efficacy. As a result, animal medicines containing toxin have caused serious problems from injecting patients with venom. Here, various venoms frequently used as TKM were reviewed in terms of their instinct toxity and tried to estimate their safety classification. Methods : The estimation of safety classification was based on human equivalent dose(HED)-based MOS (margin of safety) and clinical dose applied for patients. Results and Conclusions : Except that of snake venom due to no clinical dose, they were evaluated as class 3 for bee venom, class 4 for cantharidin, toxin from blister beetle, and class 1 for venom from scolopendrid. In conclusion, animal medicines showed a wide range of safety classification from class 1 to class 4. This wide range is estimated to result from extremely limited applications of each venom for patients because of their strong toxicity. However, it should be cautious for application in clinics since animal medicines can produce anaphylactic reactions particularly after veinous administration even with a tiny amount of venom.