Israel Active

Israel’s LabStyle has received US FDA approval for its Dario device for measuring blood sugar levels using a smartphone. It already has approval for European sales.

Israeli startups BioGaming and Motorika use virtual-reality and robotics technology to introduce fun into physical therapy exercises. BioGaming’s algorithms power a Microsoft Kinect 3D motion-capture camera. Motorika’s robotics enable neurological and orthopedic rehab.

Eighty-three new medications and medical technologies were added to Israel's "health basket" on Thursday, benefiting 108,500 patients at the cost of NIS 300 million. Cancer treatments include myeloma, leukemia, pancreatic, kidney, prostate, breast, ovarian, lung and more.

The average Hatzalah emergency response volunteer will attend to some 300 calls annually, but 58-year-old Yehuda Londner of Bnei Brak recorded an impressive 2,370 calls last year. In 29 years with Hatzalah and Magen David Adom he has responded to over 45,000 emergency calls.

The founder of Novotalk Moshe Rot describes how he suffered from stuttering since age 3. Then at age 22 he went for fluency shaping at Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital. He started up Novotalk to teach and reinforce the skill online at much less cost.

Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have discovered that PD-1 blockers used as cancer treatments are also able to destroy the plaque in the brain that causes Alzheimer’s disease. The blockers keep the immune system working to fight disease and repair damage in the body.

Israel’s BiolineRX is to perform a Phase II clinical test combining BiolineRX’s BL-8040 with Merck’s KEYTRUDA anti-PD-1 therapy in the treatment of patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Australian, Canadian and US kids are traveling to Europe and Israel for the ApiFix non-fusion treatment of their Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (twisted spine). Israel’s ApiFix is approved in Europe and Israel and ApiFix helps parents to identify suitable spine surgeons.

Surgeons at Israel’s Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva set an Israeli record when in 48 hours they transplanted 4 lungs and 4 livers into 7 patients. One of the liver transplants included surgery to shorten the stomach – only the eighth such operation in the world.

Israel’s CartiHeal has now implanted its Agili-C cartilage regenerator into nearly 200 damaged knees since the biotech was founded in 2009 . CartiHeal has just raised $15 million to expand trials prior to a planned European launch in 2017.