Israel Active

The U.S. FDA has approved Cinqair - the asthma treatment from Israel’s Teva - for adults who have a history of severe attacks despite taking medication.  More than 22 million Americans had asthma as of 2013, and there are more than 400,000 asthma-related hospitalizations each year.

Israel’s BioSight is pleased with its Phase I/IIa study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of its Astarabine treatment for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and relapsed/refractory Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).  Full results later this year. 

In Israel’s Negev desert it sometimes takes ambulance services half an hour to reach remote communities. So United Hatzalah is running a training course to increase the numbers of its EMS volunteers from 150 to 250. Its goal is at least one volunteer in every village and kibbutz and to cut the overall response time for EMS personnel throughout the region.

Chen Sabag was born 32 years ago in a Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance in the southern Israeli town of Netivot.  On March 29, Chen’s son was born to his wife Hadas, in an MDA ambulance near the northern Israeli city of Afula.

International Committee of the Red Cross’s chief surgeon, Dr. Harald Veen, attended Israel’s “Surgical Management in Austere Environments” conference.  He said Israel is a role model for disaster medicine as “Israelis have the knowledge and experience” to excel in emergencies.

Doctors at Hadassah University Medical Centre in Jerusalem successfully treated 15 children from Russia who suffer from osteopetrosis, a rare and fatal genetic bone disease. In the northern Russian Republic of Chuvash, one of every 4,000 newborns has this condition.

Israel’s Gamida Cell reported good results from Duke University trials of its NiCord blood cancer treatment.  Compared with 101 patients receiving ordinary umbilical cord blood, the 18 patients using NiCord had a lower mortality rate, less infections and less time in hospital post-transplantation.

Two Israeli companies have partnered to cut the risk of patient infections dramatically in 10 hospitals in the US, Switzerland and Israel.  Hyginex wristbands, sensors and beacons use Atomation's IoT platform to capture data on staff hand washing and vibrate to remind them before and after patient contact.

Israeli patients will be the first in the world to enjoy a first-of-its-kind hybrid nuclear imaging scanner, at Haifa’s Rambam Hospital.  Doctors can map tissues and bones and identify diseases including cancer, heart and kidney diseases, broken bones, and infections. =

Scientists at Israel’s Technion Institute have trained cardiac cells to beat using mechanical stimuli that do not come into contact with the cells.  The cardiac cells continued to beat over an hour after the mechanical stimulus ceased.  It could lead to development of more effective pacemakers.