Israel Active

As reported previously, the stem cell treatment for ALS from Israel’s Brainstorm is doing well in trials.  The latest Phase 2 trial of Brainstorm’s autologous bone-marrow derived MSC-NTF cells (Nurown) in 48 patients at 3 US sites was effective and well tolerated.

As reported previously Israel’s Enlivex Therapeutics has developed Allocetra which rebalances the immune system. Allocetra was given to six patients suffering from severe sepsis at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem. All survived.

Israel’s Issachar Weiss is a volunteer paramedic for Magen David Adom in the Tel Aviv area. He delivered one baby at 4:30am Sunday in Givatayim, another at 5am Monday in Bnei Brak and a third at 5pm Monday in Hatikvah Tel Aviv. It may be a new record.

Israeli startup Diagnostic Robotics has developed an Artificial Intelligent Emergency Room triage robot that assesses the urgency of each patient to determine their priority in seeing a human doctor. The robot also provides the doctor with a preliminary diagnosis and recommendations.

Israel’s Sheba Medical Center has launched its ARC Innovation Center, with world-class medics plus top technology experts developing new approaches for treatment and rehabilitation. It is the first hospital in the world to provide a virtual reality rehab facility.

The British-Israel research organization BIRAX is granting funds of £2.8 million to seven, new, three-year bilateral scientific research projects in the field of ageing. These focus on vascular, brain and eye diseases, plus diabetes and involve precision medicine and Artificial Intelligence.

Researchers from Ben-Gurion University working with Spanish scientists have discovered that single-cell organisms such as amoebas are capable of developing memory capabilities. The breakthrough could help treat patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Professor Ilan Dinstein of Israel’s Ben Gurion University has developed a method of detecting children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from the early age of 18 months. He tracks eye-movements of children watching films. ASD children have significantly more idiosyncratic gaze patterns.

Israel’s Teva is launching Truxima, a biosimilar for Rituxan - Roche’s oncology treatment. It is initially targeted at non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma patients but also could treat rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions.

Great video by Naftali Hananya about Israeli medical innovations previously reported in this newsletter. It highlights nano eye drops to restore vision ; Savicell’s lung cancer test ; the multiple myeloma treatment XPOVIO ; and Relivion’s migraine headset ;