A South Dakota-based company is set to begin clinical trials for a COVID-19 antibody treatment derived from the plasma of cows, 7News.com.au reported.
These are not simple cows. According to the edition, “scientists genetically engineered the animals to give them an immune system that’s part human. That way, the animals produce disease-fighting human antibodies to COVID-19, which are then turned into a drug to attack the virus.”
Scientists took skin cells from a cow and knocked out the genes that are responsible for creating cow antibodies. They instead inserted an engineered artificial human chromosome that produces human antibodies.
Scientists have already produced hundreds of doses of SAB-185 to use it in clinical trials.
According to them, cows have a stronger immune response than humans, and repeated injections of coronavirus make their immune response even stronger.
Besides, cows are large and therefore have more plasma and can produce it 3 times a month, and not once, as people do.