Grand Forks-based Avianax to meet with Department of Defense about potential Ebola treatment

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- As worldwide concern over the Ebola virus continues to mount, a Grand Forks company that specializes in antibody technology may potentially help fight the disease.

Researchers from Avianax and the University of North Dakota are meeting with federal government officials in Virginia this week to show their antibody for a virus that acts similar to Ebola, a disease that’s made it’s way to the United States after sweeping through West Africa where it has killed thousands of people.

The U.S. Department of Defense contacted the company, which has become known for advancements using geese antibodies, to see what it can do for Ebola, according to David Bradley, executive director for the Center of Research Excellence for Avian Therapeutics for Infectious Diseases at UND. Bradley will attend the meeting. Researchers will present their technology to experts from an arm of the department and the National Institutes of Health, he said.

Although no positive outcome is guaranteed, they feel their work is strong enough to be considered - their Hantavirus antibody is just as capable as ZMapp, the experimental tobacco-based one used recently by recovering American aid workers, he said.

Based on data from studies with other viruses, Avianax researchers believe that Ebola-specific goose antibodies can be produced at levels 100,000 times greater than other animals, and at a much faster rate - within weeks, rather than months, he said.

“We think we have something they should look at,” he said. “We have something that’s worth talking about, but there are no promises.”

Similarities

Shared characteristics between Ebola and the Andes virus give researchers hope their Andes antibody will be useful, Bradley said.

Although they are not of the same family, both are among four major groups of viruses that cause similar flu-like symptoms - fever, headache, cough - and hemorrhagic fevers that can ultimately lead to shock and death, said Bradley.

The Andes virus, a hantavirus, is commonly found in Central and South America and is known to cause severe and fatal respiratory disease.

“(Residents there) sort of see Andes as their Ebola,” he said.

The viruses also share similar death rates, with a roughly 60 percent risk of death for Ebola and 40 percent for Andes, he said.

Development

For at least two years, Avianax has been developing an antibody for the Andes virus. Antibodies are generated after a piece of DNA on the outer layer of the virus is removed and injected into female geese, he said. The DNA produces a special protein inside the geese, which generate antibodies against the protein and deposit it in high levels within their egg yolks. Then researchers purify the antibodies from the geese eggs, he said.

Researchers don’t work directly with the virus - they receive a DNA vaccine containing parts of the virus produced by the Aldevron lab in Fargo - but inject the vaccine into the geese, said Richard Glynn, the company’s chief operating officer. He also emphasized there is no Ebola virus located in the Avianax building or any threat of the disease here.

So far, the Andes antibody has been so effective in golden hamsters, the animal model for that disease, that Avianax has proposed it to the U.S. Army for human clinical trials, he said.

“If you can cure it in golden hamsters, you can generally cure it in other mammals,” he said.

Support

The work of Avianax, which has created antibodies against 14 diseases, such as HIV, has long been supported by state government officials, said Glynn.

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., first requested the federal defense agency get in touch with the company.

Glynn mentioned the upcoming trip at a business roundtable discussion earlier this month held by U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. He updated the congressman on developments at the company, which formed about a decade ago and collaborates with UND.

Glynn and Bradley indicated they are cautiously optimistic about the meeting, though they have confidence in the company’s work on the Andes antibody.

“Now, we just have to convince the government that it works,” Glynn said.