Cattle Antibodies Tested This Summer to Treat Covid-19

SAB Biotherapeutics, a company based at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is harnessing that potential to fight Covid-19. They've done similar work before, creating polyclonal antibodies to treat both influenza and MERS. Polyclonal antibodies are a collection of antibodies a body makes to ward off a specific invading organism. Today the focus is on treating, or even preventing, Covid-19.

The cows SAB uses to create these polyclonal antibodies aren't just any cow. They have been given genes from the human immune system that makes antibodies. They are injected with what essentially amounts to a coronavirus vaccine, causing them to try to fight off what the body sees as an infection. As that happens, SAB CEO Eddie Sullivan, explained, they "produce a specifically targeted high-neutralizing antibody that can be used in patients."

These targeted neutralizing antibodies can, in theory, help slow an infection in someone who is sick or prevent an infection in someone who is exposed to the virus.

Read the full story form Progressive Farmer here.