Israel Active

Israel’s UroGen Pharma has three treatments for the treatment of cancers of the urinary system (bladder and kidneys). It has just raised $58.2 million on NASDAQ. UroGen’s MitoGel treatment for Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma has received Orphan status from the US FDA.

Israeli bone regeneration biotech CartiHeal has raised $18.3 million to fund a trial that will help it achieve US FDA approval for its cartilage regeneration technology.  CartiHeal already has CE (European) marketing approval.

Israel’s Escala Medical has developed what it describes as “the only non-surgical, incision-free 20-minute solution for patients suffering pelvic prolapse.” It is targeting FDA approval by the end of 2017.

I reported previously about Israel’s Gordian Surgical and its safe suturing (stitching) system to assist minimally-invasive surgery.  Gordian’s Doni Mayerfield was interviewed recently on ILTV.

Israel’s Tandem Technologies has developed Tandem Snare – a device for precise removal and retrieval of polyps in the colon.  Tandem’s CEO Noam Hassidov described the device on ILTV.

Israel’s Body Vision Medical has integrated CT scans with X-rays to help surgeons remove small, early-stage lung-cancer tumors. Pre-surgery 3D CT images are overlaid with 2D X-ray images during the operation to produce high-resolution Augmented Reality maps of the tumors in real-time.

Researchers from Israel’s Technion and Harvard have a new theory on how Parkinson’s disease develops. The responsible toxic protein alpha-synuclein doesn’t spread like an infection but accumulates throughout the body. It could change the way the neurological disease is treated.

The US Department of Defense has awarded a $9.2 million contract to Israel’s MeMed to help it complete its pioneering platform for distinguishing bacterial from viral infections. MeMed had already received a 2.3 million Euro grant from the European Commission.

In the world’s first procedure of its kind, Israeli surgeons at Hadassah University Medical Center used a Mazor-Israel robot to operate on Aharon Schwartz, whose spine was broken in six places from a work accident. Schwartz is expected to be able to walk again soon.

Israel’s Aspect Imaging is developing a compact MRI system that can be placed in neonatal units for scanning newborns at the point of care. Aspect has just raised $30 million which will also help fund the development of a stroke-dedicated MRI System for Emergency Rooms.