Israel Active

I reported previously on the huge $25 million donation to help fund Magen David’s new underground blood services center in Ramle. The groundbreaking event for the state-of-the-art rocket-proof site took place on Nov 17.

Israeli charity for the disabled, Beit Issie Shapiro, organized an event at Google’s London campus in which Israeli firms explained their technology for empowering the disabled. This included the Sesame phone, robots for autistic kids and smartphone navigation of wheelchairs.

The SD-809 (deutetrabenazine) treatment by Israel’s Teva for Huntington disease has been approved by the US FDA.

Israel’s P-Cure has received US FDA approval for its image-guided proton therapy solution that treats patients in a comfortable upright position. Patients to benefit from this clinical breakthrough will initially be those treated for cancers of the lung, breast, chest, the head and neck, and lower torso.

An international study led by scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Crick Institute in London has revealed that cancer stem cells survive even after aggressive treatments. However, they need low (or zero) levels of a DNA-packaging protein H1.0 to re-activate.

Scientists at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot have developed a treatment called “Gammora” that kills between 95-97% of the AIDS virus in laboratory tests. The Kaplan AIDS clinic is the largest in Israel, caring for 1,400 patients.

Scientists at Israel’s Technion Institute have developed nano-packages of different anti-cancer treatments that are tagged with synthetic DNA sequences. Released into the bloodstream and collected 48 hours later, they identify which treatments are most effective.

I reported previously on Israel’s Zebra Medical and its computer algorithms that can detect osteoporosis, cardiac disease, liver disease etc from X-rays, CT scans and MRI scans.  Now it has developed a new algorithm that detects breast cancer from mammograms.

Israel’s Regentis Biomaterials is shortly to conduct a Phase III clinical study of GelrinC, a new treatment for focal cartilage defects in the knee. GelrinC is poured into the lesion in a minimally invasive procedure and converted into a solid implant using ultra-violet light.

Israeli startup BioShai is developing the world’s first simple blood test for the early diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease (PD). The PDx test measures changes in molecules associated with PD and can lead to more precise treatments and a higher quality of life for the patient.