Ilama animal antibodies will most likely play a global role in helping fight Covid-19.

Mediacorp News reports, that this is if the clinical trials conducted by the Belgian biomedical company go smoothly as promised, according to Reuters.

Researchers from the VIB-UGent Medical Biotechnology Center in Ghent said the antibodies taken from an Ilama named ‘Winter’ had successfully stopped the spread of coronavirus including its variants in laboratory tests.

Side note to Winter, the llama: Thank you for helping to save us! 

"This technology, which is the biggest advancement, is seen to enhance the role of vaccines in protecting people with weak immune systems, as well as treating infected individuals in hospitals," said ExeVir VIB-UGent Chief Medical Officer Domunique Tersago.

"The extraordinary Ilama antibodies can bind to certain parts of the S Protein of the virus, and we don't see mutations at high rates there," he said.

The antibody also showed a strong degree of neutralization against the highly contagious Delta variant.

According to VIB-UGent Group Head Xavier Saelens, like Ilama and other camel species, Winter produces a smaller and more stable version of the antibody than other animals.

"Its small size allows it to reach targets up to parts of the virus that are difficult for normal antibodies to access," he said.

The search for the Covid-19 treatment is a follow-up to a study conducted in 2016 involving the use of Illama animal antibodies to fight the SARS and MERS viruses.

Well, hopefully this will stop the anti-vaxxers from spreading their false gospel. In the meantime, I’ rather sad that I won’t get a vaccine that has some llama antibodies in it. 

Llamas are so cute and it is so heartwarming to hear that these cute animals are not helping to save the world.