Israel Active

Scientists from Bar-Ilan University partnered with Israel’s Magen David Adom to develop “EPIMADA,” a smartphone app that issues a local proximity alert in the event of a severe allergic reaction, known as anaphylactic shock. Anyone with an EpiPen (syringe containing adrenaline) can save the victim.

Israel’s four health companies maintain databases of 5 million records that (anonymized) will benefit medical researchers in the discovery of new treatments. The Maccabi health fund is already doing this.

I wrote previously about Israeli personalized cancer biotech Ayala and its partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb. One of the results of this tie-up is AL101 - a new treatment for metastatic Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (ACC), which could also treat triple-negative breast cancer.

Israel has launched the Israel Precision Medicine Partnership -  an innovative $60 million program to enable researchers to target the best treatments for a patient’s disease (e.g. cancer). Precision medicine uses genetic sequencing to predict an individual’s response to specific treatments.

Israel’s Human Xtensions has received FDA clearance for its HandX light-weight, hand-held device that translates the surgeon’s natural hand motions into complex movements inside the patient. It opens vast new horizons for Minimally Invasive Surgery (see video).

The United Nations Population Fund is giving the 2018 Population Award to Israel’s Save a Child’s Heart organization. SACH doctors have (free of charge) saved over 4,500 children with congenital heart defects from all over the world, including Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority.

Israel’s Endospan has received the CE mark for its HORIZON Stent Graft System to treat Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA). Endospan is also awaiting European approval for its NEXUS™ Stent Graft System to treat Aortic Arch Disease.

Israeli blood analysis startup PixCell has been awarded a €2.5 million grant by the European commission to help commercialize its HemoScreen.

Israeli cancer immunotherapy company Compugen is to provide its pipeline of cancer-fighting antibodies to MedImmune – AstraZeneca’s global biologics research and development arm. Compugen will initially receive $10 million and then up to $200 million for the first MedImmune product.

A Filipino baby born at the Red Crescent Hospital in eastern Jerusalem had a rare and serious heart defect, which required complex and risky open-heart surgery. He was taken to Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital where Israeli and Arab doctors together saved the baby’s life.