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• Officials with the USDA's Animal and Plant Inspection Service did not respond to phone messages left by The Associated Press.
• The company's path to puppy love began a decade ago after a mysterious disease -- later found to be West Nile virus -- spread among flocks at the South Dakota-based Schiltz Goose Farm, the largest goose producer in North America. Farm owners James and Richard Schiltz and Glynn, who was working for them, found researchers at the University of North Dakota who were interested in the project.
• The group, led by Dr. David Bradley, the executive director of the Center of Research Excellence for Avian Therapeutics for Infectious Diseases at UND, discovered antibodies in the geese that they could purify and put back into other birds. The treatment worked.
• "We went to the Mayo Clinic and they looked at all our work," Glynn said. "They called it a game-changing technology."
• Avianax quickly found promising links between goose antibodies and treatments for other diseases, including rabies, dengue fever, avian flu and some cancers. Because they didn't have the money or time to explore testing for human diseases, the group set their sights on the veterinary market and eventually settled on saving puppies.
• Treating parvovirus currently can cost, at a minimum, $500 for antibiotics, intravenous fluids, painkillers and stomach medicine and generally takes six days, said Dr. Darin Meulebroeck, chief medical officer for Avianax. The trials have shown the new drug can work quickly as two days, he said.
• "We've lost a couple that have been so severe ... there's no drug that is going to treat 100 percent of everything," Meulebroeck said.
• The tests run through November.
• Glynn said Avianax has "stuck in there" with the help of key researchers and believes it is on the verge of saving human lives with a similar antibody-- although it could take more than five years to reach the market. The U.S. Army is interested in using the technology for Andres virus, which has been found to lead to a fatal respiratory disease. Safety trials are scheduled in the next two years.
• "We went from being goose herders from South Dakota to an antibody company," Glynn said. "And we're not done yet."
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