The drug eculizumab costs half a million dollars per patient per year. It’s used to treat rare diseases in which your immune system turns against you, and destroys red blood cells.

A team of researchers have not only identified exactly how eculizumab works, but they’ve found that a protein found in tick salvia works in a similar way.

These proteins are small and easy to make - and may help develop a more affordable alternative to eculizumab.

Hans spoke with Norman Swan about the recent finding published with Oxford University and conducted at the Ramaciotti Centre for Cryo-Electron Microscopy at Monash University.

Listen to the podcast — http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/healthreport/how-tick-saliva-might-help-treat-rare-diseases/7316984