Given that the race is on to find a possible treatment to
this terrible pandemic as soon as possible, is cow plasma the most viable method
to provide COVID 19 antibody treatment?
By: Ringo Bones
A biotech company in South Dakota says it could hold the key
to help fight the COVID 19 virus. The antibodies from the cows could help fight
off the infection and speed up the recovery. Dr. Ryan Schaefer, a veterinarian
at Walcott Veterinary Clinic says “they engineer the animals so that they
actually produce human immune cells, and then they are basically vaccinating
those cows with COVID 19, and then turning around and collecting the plasma
from those cows and getting the antibodies.”
SAb Biotherapeutics in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is the
brains behind the science. Dr. Ryan Schaefer says antibody testing is different
to finding a vaccine. Dr. Schaefer says: “The antibodies are already produced
and they are going to attack that cell if somebody is infected. Cow’s
antibodies would come in first to at least help because you don’t need to
produce that antibody right away.” A vaccine would take a bit longer than the
antibody treatment method because a vaccine works by first requires your body
to make antibodies to ward off infection. The biotech company plans to begin
clinical trials in the coming months.
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