Hatching antibodies

OstriGen Inc. is developing polyclonal ostrich antibodies as oral therapies for cholera and other GI tract diseases that are designed to be as effective as existing mammalian antibodies while being produced at much lower costs.

Co-CEO Yasuhiro Tsukamoto, who has studied ostriches for nearly 25 years, discovered the birds readily develop antibodies in response to their environment. Like other birds, ostrich hens pass along antibodies to their eggs as immunoglobulin Y (IgY), but their IgY does not break down in the human body...