NIH Awards Grant to SAB Biotherapeutics for Flu Treatment R&D

SAB Biotherapeutics has received a $1.42 million Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health to fund the production and preclinical testing of an antibody the company designed to treat influenza.

The company said Wednesday it teamed up with the University of South Dakota’s Sanford School of Medicine for the project under the BioSNTR program that works to facilitate academic-industry research collaborations.

SAB developed the medicine using the company’s DiversitAb platform that utilizes  transchromosomic cattle genetically designed to produce human antibodies to counter antigens such as the influenza virus.

“Depending on the season, there are 3,000 to 49,000 influenza virus-associated deaths in the U.S. each year,” said Victor Huber, associate professor in the University of South Dakota’s basic biomedical sciences division.

Eddie Sullivan, SAB president and CEO, said the antigen being developed contains a combination of four strains of influenza viruses same as ones contained in the 2016-2017 vaccine and the company has begun human trials for its human antibody treatment for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus.

“SAB works with researchers, laboratories and organizations around the world to address emerging health threats such as MERS-CoV, Ebola and Zika,” added Sullivan.

The company is scheduled to release the results of its flu treatment test in 2018.