The Israeli Chief Medical Officer of US biotech Moderna reported that company’s mRNA-1273 Covid-19 vaccine successfully produced antibodies on 8 patients. Dr. Tal Zaks received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Ben Gurion University, joining Moderna in 2015. https://www.timesofisrael.com/modernas-israeli-top-medical-officer-weve-shown-today-that-our-vaccine-works/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/talzaks/ https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/18/health/coronavirus-vaccine-moderna-early-results/index.html

Seven of the eight critically ill coronavirus patients on ventilators, treated with PLX stem cells from Israel’s Pluristem, survived after 28 days.  Only one of those still needed mechanical ventilation – the other five having been discharged from hospital. 10 … Continue reading →

The Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) in Ness Ziona has just completed the patent application process for eight new coronavirus antibodies (reported here previously). https://www.jpost.com/health-science/iibr-files-for-patents-for-8-coronavirus-antibodies-628134 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/280294

Israel’s Teva is donating the medicines for a US study into the effectiveness of a potential combination coronavirus treatment. The study will evaluate whether combining the antibiotic azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine can prevent hospitalization and mortality from COVID-19. https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/05/15/israeli-pharma-giant-teva-donates-medicines-for-new-nih-coronavirus-treatment-study/

While developing its unique treatment for growing human bone grafts, Israel’s Bonus BioGroup (see previously) discovered MesenCure – a new pneumonia treatment that could help coronavirus patients. A study on animals was successful; human trials are planned. https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-bone-grafting-company-makes-breakthrough-in-treatment-for-coronavirus/

Tel Aviv University (TAU) researchers have partnered with Swiss biotech Neovii to find a vaccine against Covid-19. TAU will use their 2015 patented research into the MERS virus to accelerate their work on Covid-19. https://www.jpost.com/health-science/after-years-studying-coronaviruses-israeli-team-ready-to-develop-vaccine-627882

Israel’s Zebra Medical has just received its fifth FDA approval (previous ones reported here) – this time for its Vertebral Compression Fractures (VCF) image analysis product. Zebra’s latest AI solution automatically identifies likely compression fractures from scans. https://sg.news.yahoo.com/zebra-medical-vision-secures-5th-135200965.html

Dr. Ami Sperber, professor emeritus of Ben-Gurion University, initiated a 10-year epidemiology study of 73,000 patients in 33 countries. It found that over 40% of the world’s population have Disorders of Gut-Brain Interactions (DGBI). The data is vital to gastrointestinal … Continue reading →