Israel Active

As soon as Phase 3 results were published, Israel added the new combo-therapy of venetoclax and azacytidine from global biotech AbbVie to the basket of treatments for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Israel had the most patients enrolled in the Phase 3 study.

Another instance of Israeli technology saving British lives. Israel’s Ibex Medical (reported previously) is helping the UK’s National Health System (NHS) diagnose cancer from biopsies.  Ibex, has teamed up with UK’s LDPath to reduce pathology pressures on 24 different NHS trusts.

Scientists at Israel’s Technion are confident that they can monitor Covid-19 patients at home. For their algorithm that monitors oxygen levels, they issued an international call for statistics through an open source medical platform. They hope to receive tens of thousands of case files.

A round-up of the leading Israeli prospects for a COVID-19 vaccine. One of them - the Israel Institute for Biological Research and the Weizmann Institute of Science - featured in the World Health Organization’s periodic report on international vaccine efforts.

Dr Frenkel-Morgenstern of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University has filed a US patent application for her research on epitopes (proteins) that can build immunity against COVID-19. An advantage of such a vaccine is it will still work even if the virus mutates.

Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital is cautiously optimistic after the world’s first passive immunization of a critically ill coronavirus patient. After an injection of Kamada’s IgG antibody product , a CT-scan of the lungs showed some improvement and doctors are hopeful of a recovery.

A 3-year study by Hebrew University of Jerusalem scientists has discovered that a combination of an antiviral AIDS treatment and another to treat memory loss was effective in fighting liver and skin cancers. Separately, the medicines had no effect on the cancer.

Israel’s Holon Institute of Technology (HIT) is launching in October a new bachelor’s degree program in Medical Technology (Medtech). The first 60 students will study digital medical technologies, including telemedicine, smart medical systems, and big data.

This video highlights the enlightened approach and up-to-date facilities for psychiatric care at Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak.  Also, during the Covid-19 epidemic, the hospital successfully adopted tele-psychiatry – the new norm for patient-practitioner meetings.

A team from Bar-Ilan University was one of four winners of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research DREAM Challenge. The Israelis were the only non-US winners from the 43 competing teams. Their winning entry focuses on movement disorders resulting from cell damage.