Israel Active

During the winter, Israeli charity Ezer Mizion often takes oncology clinic kids on a trip to Mt. Hermon. And if their blood count results are anything to go by, the benefits to the children last long after they return from the “sledging, tobogganing and fun, fun, fun!”

Israel’s Sheba hospital is partnering with Switzerland’s Lonza Group to fast-track production of the CAR-T cancer immunotherapy invented by Israeli scientists. Sheba is the first hospital to trial and refine Lonza’s Cocoon manufacturing platform for growing cells to treat hundreds of oncology patients.

Israel’s Ibex Medical Analytics develops a diagnostic system that uses computer vision, machine learning, and electronic medical records to confirm cancer diagnoses of tissue biopsies. Ibex’s technology helps minimize the risk of misdiagnosis. Ibex has just received $11 million of funding.

I reported previously on Israel’s HIL Applied Medical and its focused proton beam lasers to treat tumors.  HIL is spending $5 million to set-up a research and development and manufacturing center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Israel’s Teva has launched a generic version of EXJADE (deferasirox) in the US. It treats patients two years of age and older for chronic iron overload due to blood transfusions. Currently, one in eight generic prescriptions dispensed in the U.S. is filled with a Teva generic product.

Israel’s HeraMED is partnering with Israeli-owned device manufacturer Quasar to mass-produce its HeraBEAT ultrasound smartphone-based fetal heartbeat monitor in Shenzhen, China. HeraBEAT uses amplified ultrasound doppler technology.  

Heart transplants for children are rare. And when the cardiac condition of 13-year-old Dov from Arad deteriorated, it looked bleak. Then on the Jewish festival of Purim, surgeons at Israel’s Schneider children’s hospital gave him a new heart. And on the same day, they gave a 5-year-old girl a new kidney.

Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have been able to silence the gene controlling the p53 protein known as “the guardian of the genome”. The p53 protein is mutated or dysfunctional in over two-thirds of all cancers. Korean biotech BioLeaders is investing $10 million in the new Israeli therapy.

The India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F) has given $4.3 million to Israel's Zebra Medical to deploy its Artificially Intelligent screening system across India. Zebra’s AI medical imaging technology can early-diagnose some of the 3.6 million new TB patients every year.

Israeli Emergency Medical Service United Hatzalah has just opened a new chapter in Colombia – its fifth country outside of its Israeli base. UH aims to reduce emergency response times in Colombia down from 45 minutes to just three.  UH operates in the US, Panama, Ukraine and Brazil.