Israel Active

Hazel & ILTV) Scientists at Israel’s Technion 3D-print prosthetic hands for children in Israel, Gaza, the PA and Syria – all for free. They are built to the child’s specifications –and can be even better than a normal hand.

Israeli courier Mishel Zrian races against time for NGO Ezer Mizion, delivering life-saving transplants for bone marrow patients. During the pandemic he often performs logistical acrobatics to avoid quarantine and get transplants to their destinations amid the shortage of flights and restrictions on travel.

Israel is establishing a consortium to make CRISPR genome editing more precise. Israel’s Innovation Authority has allocated NIS 36 million to CRISPR-IL, for the country’s academic institutions and bio-techs to use AI to advance the technology for repairing disease-causing mutations.

Israel’s ReWalk Robotics received FDA clearance of its Exoskeleton Personal 6.0

Israel’s Beyond Air announced positive top-line results from its third pilot study in bronchiolitis patients. 89 infants under 12 months were treated at 8 sites in Israel.

A webinar from Israel’s Ben Gurion University featuring a student developing software to help advance Covid-19 treatment trials and two alumni - one working for the World Health Organization, and another helping implement a Covid-19 surveillance system in the state of Oregon.

Israel’s Itamar Medical (reported previously) is funding a trial of its disposable WatchPAT ONE CPAP device. It will be given to 200 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients in the Mount Sinai Health (US) system with respiratory symptoms but who do not require hospital admission.

Israel’s Zebra Medical was being deployed last year to detect TB cases across India. Zebra is now assisting Apollo (India’s largest hospital group) to diagnose coronavirus cases using its machine-learning algorithm that analyzes CT scans of suspected Covid-19 infected patients.

Israel’s Respinova developed Pulsehaler to help COPD patients improve their lungs and avoid ventilation. Repinova is now preparing for clinical trials in Israel on patients suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) as caused by Covid-19.

In animal tests, Israel’s Institute for Biological Research has found two treatments for the genetic disorder Gaucher’s disease are also effective against Covid-19 and other viruses (e.g. West Nile). Cerdelga is already approved for Gaucher’s and Venglustat may be fast-tracked.