GenoMed, a medical genomics company, is seeking horses to participate in a free trial to test a medical protocol for treating West Nile virus (WNV). David W. Moskowitz, MD, MA, FACP, chairman, CEO, and chief medical officer for GenoMed, said the treatment protocol has already been successful in limited human trials.

The treatment uses either angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors if the horse’s blood pressure is high or angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) if it is normal to low every 12 hours to regulate the horse’s immune response to the virus (veterinarians check the horse’s blood pressure and dose accordingly). Both medications are already FDA-approved and are used to treat high blood pressure in human patients.

Current treatment for WNV includes supportive care, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, and WNV antibody serum (for more information see www.TheHorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=5360).

“We think that the animals (and humans) who get into trouble from the virus do so because they overreact to it,” Moskowitz said, “If anything, their immune response is too strong, not too weak, as is still claimed for humans. This explains why most of the people who die of WNV were so healthy beforehand