Dr. Robert Bayer, a scientist with a startup company in Orono, Maine, is looking to develop medicinal products from lobster waste. He says that lobster extract has anti-viral properties and could potentially be used to treat COVID-19. His company, called Lobster Unlimited LLC, has already been working on finding a way to use the discarded lobster parts to make treatments for shingles, warts, and herpes. The waste comes from seafood processing plants, and it’s abundant and available now.
Dr. Bayer was the head of the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute before starting his business. He is now looking for a bio-secure lab that is willing and eager to test the lobster byproduct on the deadly coronavirus. He said, “it’s a potential treatment” to the virus that has shut down daily life across the planet.
Lobster Unlimited received a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office late last year related to its work investigating whether “lobster blood” can be used to fight viruses and even cancer. According to representatives, the results have been promising. “We’ve tried it on things like shingles, and it works,” he said. A document filed with the federal agency shows the substance can reduce the viral load of herpes simplex virus-infected cells.
Lobsters’ bodies contain a blood-like substance called hemolymph. It contains hemocyanin, which is a protein that carries oxygen to all other cells in the lobster’s body. This hemocyanin is the byproduct that has immune-boosting and antiviral properties. The company has been using it to develop cancer treatments and vaccines. The substance could also be effective against viruses that cause colds, Ebola, and measles.
Hemocyanin hasn’t been proven to be an effective treatment for coronaviruses yet, but it’s worth testing. Bayer said:
They appear to be effective against a variety of viruses but have not been tested for efficacy on corona varieties. A simple test that needs bio-security would give us an answer.
If testing finds the substance is capable, the procedure can be deployed almost instantly since there’s already a significant supply of hemocyanin continually passing through the seafood processing industry. Other studies have even found that hemocyanin from different types of shellfish, such as oysters, shrimp, abalone, and horseshoe crabs have anti-viral properties as well. So, there’s plenty of the ingredient available for use to make medicines.
Bayer said:
Every processing plant in Maine and Canada has [hemolymph] all over the floor. I probably have a couple of gallons in my freezer. If it works [to treat COVID-19, large quantities] could be made available almost immediately.
Approximately, every year, two million gallons of hemolymph gets dumped down the drains as waste in seafood plants that process lobster into consumer food products. Imagine if all of that could be used to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
