Llama antibodies could soon be playing a part in the worldwide fight against COVID-19, if tests being done by a Belgian company live up to their early results.Researchers from the VIB-UGent Center for Medical Biotechnology in Ghentsay antibodies taken from a llama named Winter have reduced the spread of coronavirus infections, including variants, in laboratory testing.Dominique Tersago is chief medical officer of ExeVir, a company that works with VIB-UGent.Tersago described the technology as a possible "game-changer," which means something that has a big, good effect on a situation.The technology's aim is to help rather than replace vaccines.It could possibly be used to help protect people with weaker immune systems and treat infected people in hospitals.Unusually small, llama antibodies are able to attach, or bind, to part of the virus's protein spike.Tersago said, "at the moment we're not seeing mutations of a high frequency anywhere near where the binding site is."
