Israel Active

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.

Scientists at Haifa University have proved that a person’s mood can be determined by examining one’s handwriting. After watching darker, disturbing movies, the 62 study participants all wrote letters of the alphabet smaller in both height and width than after watching positive films.

I reported previously about Israeli Glaucoma- treatment developer IOPtima. Now China’s Kanghong is partnering IPOtima’s to market its glaucoma laser surgery system, IOPtiMate, in Asia, which has some of the world’s highest rates of blindness from glaucoma.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made an impromptu visit to Israel and praised Hadassah Medical Center’s Ein Kerem oncology facility. “Hadassah is proof that medical treatment creates a bridge between people, and a center of hope,” he said.

Thanks to its ambucycles and SOS emergency app, the average time for a United Hatzalah responder to arrive at the scene of an emergency call in Israel is now just 3 minutes. In 2017 United Hatzalah EMS volunteers treated 207,000 people in Israel.

Israeli scientists at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Bar-Ilan University have developed eyedrops that repair the corneas, improving near-sighted and far-sighted vision. The “nanodrops” are scheduled for human trials next year and could eventually replace multifocal lenses.

International scientists, including from Israel’s Hebrew University of Jerusalem and University of Haifa, have discovered a genetic mutation associated with Crohn’s disease. Those with the LRRK2 gene mutation are at high risk of developing the inflammatory bowel (IBD) disease.

I’ve reported previously (several times) on Israel’s IceCure and its IceSense3 cryoablation (freezing) system for destroying even large tumors. This article and video provide an excellent explanation of how the system works, in conjunction with other medications and the immune system.