Also Read
"These results are very promising," said one of the lead researchers on the study, Matthew B Frieman, an Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at UM SOM.
"This is important not only because it gives us a potential way to attack MERS, but also because it provides evidence that using these transgenic cows can rapidly produce therapeutics," said Frieman.
SAB, a biopharmaceutical company based in South Dakota, provided the genetically modified cows, a technology that it invented.
Novavax, a vaccine biotech company based in Gaithersburg in US, provided the vaccine that triggered the antibody production in the cows.
The next step, which will occur in the next three to six months, will be a human clinical trial to test the safety of the therapeutic, researchers said.
If that works, a Phase 2 trial will follow, to test whether it is effective for use in humans, in emergency situations.
MERS was first discovered in 2012 in Saudi Arabia. It appears that the disease spread to humans from camels, who may themselves have been infected by bats, researchers said.
The study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.