Israel Active

I missed reporting previously this report on Israel’s Channel 2 of the Octava cancer test from Israel’s Eventus.  So this month it’s a good opportunity to include it.

Israel’s government is to fund FutuRx - an incubator to provide as many as 40 new biotechs up to 3 years and $2.3 million to develop life-saving treatments. So far, it has selected one startup developing brain disease treatment technology and another working on a cancer treatment that blocks a specific protein.

The US FDA has designated NurOwn, developed by Israel’s Brainstorm, as a Fast Track product for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease).

Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have discovered that the protein interferon beta impairs the cognitive ability of the brain – common in old age.  The finding may lead to treatments that can prevent or reverse cognitive decline and rejuvenate the brain.

Israeli scientists have performed successful lab tests to repair damaged heart tissue using replacement tissue that has been impregnated with gold atoms.  Gold carries electrical signals from the heart until the new tissue is able to grow sufficient amounts of protein to do the same job.

OpRegen, developed by Israel’s CellCure NeuroSciences is designed to treat patients with the severe stage of the dry form of age-related macular degeneration (dry-AMD).  Dry-AMD is the leading cause of visual impairment in an aging population.  No approved therapy currently exists.

Up to 1 million hospital patients a year are hurt in falls. Israel’s EarlySense bed sensors give nursing staff advance notice of patients who are about to get out of bed at night.  Assistance and intervention at the bedside will potentially prevent falls.

The US Biomedical R&D Authority has awarded Israel’s Atox Bio $24 million to develop its treatments for severe infections.  Atox Bio’s AB103 uniquely modulates the patient’s immune response rather than attacking the virus or bacteria. Pathogens cannot develop resistance to the treatment.

The US FDA has awarded Fast Track Designation to Israeli biotech Galmed for its Aramchol treatment of Non-Alcoholic Steato-Hepatitis, or NASH.  Galmed is to perform Phase IIb trials of Aramchol this year with 240 NASH patients who also suffer from obesity and insulin resistance.

An Israeli Broadcasting Authority report about the groundbreaking robotic catheterization procedure that was broadcast live from Israel to 12,000 US doctors two weeks ago.  Two Israelis founded Corindus, the company that developed the system.