Not just for babies: Biotech startup taps breast milk for COVID treatment that keeps up as virus mutates

In the ongoing fight against COVID-19 and its evolving variants, mother may know best. That’s what biotechnology startup Lactiga–which has offices in Toronto and New York–is counting on as it develops a treatment for patients with COVID-19 using milk from lactating mothers who have been vaccinated against COVID or have recovered from the coronavirus. The goal, said Lactiga co-founder Viraj Mane, is to produce a therapeutic that can stay up-to-date as the virus mutates into variants likely unique to particular geographic regions. Lactiga’s COVID-19 treatment, which is expected to enter Phase 1 clinical trials next year, will be an airway product that will be administered with a nebulizer to reduce the viral load in the respiratory tract, said Mane. Read: SARS-CoV-2 antibodies found in breastmilk after maternal COVID-19 vaccination “Mother’s milk will always reflect the dynamic nature of natural antibody production, which creates antibodies against all possible pathogens they could encounter in their environment,” he told The Medical Post. “Even now mother’s milk would be reflective of the most prevalent current strains.” In Mane’s initial days of research, he approached friends and other people in his network, asking if they or someone they knew had some extra breast milk. Shortly after, he began working with milk banks, including one at the Mt. Sinai Health System in New York. Mane said his research has found there are more than 700 milk banks worldwide and many regularly have surplus milk. “We want to develop local capacity in the various jurisdictions so that our products in equatorial Africa, for example, will represent the pathogens in that region,” he said. Launched in 2017 by Mane and his business partner, Rik Mehta–a New Jersey-based licensed pharmacist and former adjunct law professor–Lactiga is focused on harnessing breast milk’s polyclonal COVID-19 antibodies, which are immunoglobulins made from a wide variety of immune cells within a mother’s response system. Unlike a monoclonal antibody, which does not recognize mutations in the COVID spike protein, the polyclonal COVID-19 antibodies in mother’s milk can respond to emerging variants and neutralize them. The natural ability of new mothers to produce antibodies that respond to current, local threats offers the promise of near real-time protection against COVID-19 mutations, said Mane. He likens the resulting potential product to intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) therapy for patients with weakened immune systems. “Each clinical batch of IVIG represents the antibody responses pooled from thousands of donors, somewhat in real time,” said Mane. “This is a good example of a precedent of the mechanism of what we’re hoping to do.” Read: Breastfeeding research improves lives and advances health, but faces conflicts

Not just for babies: Biotech startup taps breast milk for COVID treatment that keeps up as virus mutates

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