Photo of Leslie V Boyer
Leslie V Boyer
Medical Director, Viper Institute
Primary Department
Viper Institute
Department Affiliations
Viper Institute
(520) 626-7669
boyer@viper.arizona.edu
Research Interest
Leslie Boyer, MD, is recognized as the leading authority on clinical study of scorpion stings, and for her studies of the interaction of snake venom, antivenom and the coagulation of blood.Dr. Boyer is medical director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center in the College of Pharmacy and founding director of the VIPER Institute in the College of Medicine at the UA. She joined the UA pediatric faculty in 1991 and has additional appointments in pharmacology and pathology in the College of Medicine and an administrative appointment in Pharmacy.Dr. Boyer conducts clinical studies of envenomation and is carrying out Phase II and III clinical trials of antivenoms for the treatment of scorpion stings and snake bites. Her work has been presented on The Discovery Channel, PBS, BBC, National Geographic and National Public Radio.

Publications

Bush, S. P., Ruha, A. M., Seifert, S. A., Morgan, D. L., Lewis, B. J., Arnold, T. C., Clark, R. F., Meggs, W. J., Toschlog, E. A., Borron, S. W., Figge, G. R., Sollee, D. R., Shirazi, F. M., Wolk, R., de Chazal, I., Quan, D., García-Ubbelohde, W., Alagón, A., Gerkin, R. D., & Boyer, L. V. (2015). Comparison of F(ab')2 versus Fab antivenom for pit viper envenomation: a prospective, blinded, multicenter, randomized clinical trial. Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.), 53(1), 37-45.

Crotalidae Polyvalent Immune Fab (Ovine) has been the only antivenom commercially available in the US since 2007 for treatment of Crotalinae envenomation. Late coagulopathy can occur or recur after clearance of Fab antivenom, often after hospital discharge, lasting in some cases more than 2 weeks. There have been serious, even fatal, bleeding complications associated with recurrence phenomena. Frequent follow-up is required, and additional intervention or hospitalization is often necessary. F(ab')2 immunoglobulin derivatives have longer plasma half life than do Fab. We hypothesized that F(ab')2 antivenom would be superior to Fab in the prevention of late coagulopathy following treatment of patients with Crotalinae envenomation.

Dart, R. C., Hurlbut, K. M., Maiorino, R. M., Mayersohn, M., Aposhian, H. V., & Hassen, L. V. (1994). Pharmacokinetics of meso-2, 3-dimercaptosuccinic acid in patients with lead poisoning and in healthy adults. The Journal of pediatrics, 125, 309--316.
De Roodt, A., Clement, H., Dolab, J., Litwin, S., Hajos, S., Boyer, L., & Alag{\'o}n, A. (2014). Protein content of antivenoms and relationship with their immunochemical reactivity and neutralization assays. Clinical Toxicology, 52, 594--603.
Aaron, C., Abdel-Rahman, M. S., Abdollahi, M., Abouqal, R., Adirim, T., Agarwal, R., Aks, S. E., Alarcon, W. A., Albertson, T., Algren, D. A., & others, . (2011). Journal of Medical Toxicology Reviewers. J. Med. Toxicol, 7, 1--3.
Warrick, B. J., Boyer, L. V., & Seifert, S. A. (2014). Non-native (exotic) snake envenomations in the US, 2005--2011. Toxins, 6, 2899--2911.