Llama antibodies may hold key to fighting coronavirus

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https://www.localmemphis.com/mobile/article/news/health/coronavirus/llama-antibodies-fight-virus/507-2bc34300-25c2-4a65-b3f5-932bc4b41eff

AUSTIN, Texas — A 4-year-old llama named Winter may hold the key to fighting the new coronavirus. According to a paper published in the Journal "Cell," researchers at the University of Texas-Austin, the National Institutes of Health and Belgium's Ghent University say antibodies found in llamas have the potential to fight the virus.

“This is one of the first antibodies known to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 (new coronavirus),” Jason McLellan, associate professor of molecular biosciences at UT Austin and co-author of the study, said in a statement.

UT-Austin says researchers started searching for antibodies four years ago to fight the SARS virus from 2003 and the MERS virus from 2012. Both of those were also coronaviruses. Winter, a Belgian llama who was 9-months-old at the time, was the test subject.

They discovered that one of the antibodies from Winter was able to neutralize SARS and another was able to neutralize MERS.

Much more at link. Interestingly, the article asserts that this treatment could be used in an inhaler form to get directly into the lungs.