Israel Active

Three years ago, one of a group of Israeli cyclists died when he had a heart attack, miles from the nearest hospital. Since then, the group carries a portable defibrillator on all trips. It recently saved the life of another member of the group, who suffered cardiac arrest in the Negev desert.

Since its first trial in 2019, Israel’s Active Implants (see previously) has performed nearly 1,000 implants of its NUsurface synthetic meniscus in Israel and Europe. It expects FDA approval to allow launch in the US in 2024.

Latest on the ART device of Israel’s Inspira Technologies (see previously) to instantly boost oxygen levels of patients having trouble breathing, reducing the need to induce comas and place them on ventilators. The machine removes low oxygen blood from the body, adds oxygen, removes CO2, and returns it to the patient.

Scientists at Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital and Bar-Ilan University have developed HBI0101- a CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma and amyloidosis, benefiting over 90% of patients in trials. Los Angeles-based Immix BioPharma will commercialize HBI0101.

A team from Magen David (MDA) and three Israeli hospitals are currently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia training doctors and nurses in the treatment of trauma. In a separate mission, Professor Hanoch Kashtan and his Assuta Ashdod team have been training surgeons and nurses, in northern Ethiopia.

During 2022 Magen David Adom EMTs and paramedics attended over 1.3 million emergencies from nearly 200 stations. The call centers received on average one call every 10.8 seconds. MDA’s 31,600 staff include nearly 14,600 youth volunteers.

  The maximum prices for dispensed medicines in Israel are to fall by an average of nearly 7.5%. Israel’s prescription prices are based on the lowest that the medicines cost in Europe on Jan 1st. Israelis then only pay 15% of that price – the remainder being paid by Israel’s health companies.

This article identifies three more Israeli companies that are expected to receive FDA approval for treatments in 2023. They are Gamida Cell (Omidubicel / NiCord – bone marrow transplants); Protalix (PRX-102 – Fabry disease); and BioLineRX (BL-8040 / Motixafortide – multiple myeloma).

Israel’s Mediwound has received FDA approval for its NexoBrid pineapple plant-based burn treatment (see previously) to be sold in the US to treat thermal burns. The US already has emergency stockpiles. NexoBrid is now approved for use in 44 countries, including the EU, Japan, and India.

Thanks to the Fertility Preservation Center at Sheba Medical Center, Ayelet, 35, gave birth to her fourth child, following years of aggressive cancer treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma. She is the first woman in the world to give birth to 4 children through cryopreservation of her eggs.