USED NOT FOR THEIR MILK OR MEAT,

BUT FOR THEIR BLOOD

They look like normal black-and-white Holstein cows, a common sight in Western
Iowa. But these cows are special: used not for their milk or meat, but for their blood. They’re
plasma donors, and one day, the life they save may be your own.

The cows were genetically engineered by biotech company SAB Biotherapeutics to

produce human antibodies, proteins that fight pathogens. These antibodies could one day treat
infectious diseases like Ebola, influenza, and Zika — and their potential to address global
outbreaks was recognized by the World Health Organization.

Antibodies made by animals have been used before to treat diseases. In the 1890s,
German bacteriologist Emil von Behring was the first one to use serum from animals like horses
to treat diphtheria, an infection of the nose and throat that can be deadly. (He won the first
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901 for his discoveries.) But the human body
recognizes these animal antibodies as foreign, which can make for severe allergic reactions. In
SAB’s cows, their bovine antibody genes were turned off and replaced with the human version
of those genes, so the cows can make fully human antibodies. “This is really just an extension of
that technology that was discovered many many years ago, by being able to produce this human
version in an animal,” says Eddie Sullivan, SAB’s president and CEO.

To create the antibodies, the cows are injected with a virus, for instance Ebola, that
creates an immune response. After the cows have produced enough antibodies to that disease,
their plasma is extracted three times per month, says Sullivan. The antibodies are then isolated
from the plasma, purified, and made into a drug. “We are simply boosting a patient’s own
immune system, using the natural proteins that we use in our bodies — these antibodies — to
fight disease,” Sullivan says.

Transgenic animals have actually been used for a long time by pharmaceutical
companies — usually to discover new antibodies that were then made into drugs.

But since then, the field has progressed slowly. Only a few animals that produce
drugs in their eggs or milk — like the transgenic chicken made by Alexion Pharmaceuticals —
have been approved by the FDA. The reasons, according to many in the field, are public
concerns over genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The cows’ antibodies are currently undergoing two clinical trials to determine if
they’re safe. In one trial, set to enroll up to 70 people, the National Institutes of Health is testing
the cow-derived drug to treat a respiratory disease that has no treatment called Middle Eastern
respiratory syndrome (MERS). Another trial, conducted at Brigham and Women's Hospital in
Boston, has already enrolled a patient with a rare bacterial infection, with more patients to
follow. Many more trials will have to be conducted before the antibodies hit the market — and
that could take years. But for now the technology seems promising. “For polyclonal antibodies,
this is a very interesting opportunity for the future”.

The trials suggest that these cows are serious business. Though there are certainly
objections to creating drugs from genetically modified animals, many in the field believe the
technology is only likely to become more popular. "And I as a student I’m betting and supporting
on this kind of discovery because this will be a big help for us not only in this generation but
also for the future. ”
 Bantayan Science High School

Ticad, Bantayan, Cebu

March 11, 2019

POSITION
PAPER
on GMO's (Genetically Modified Organisms)

Submitted by:

Joren A. Calzado

Submitted to:

Mrs. Marinel A. Destacamento