Israel Active

Israeli life-science company Essence has launched Care@Home - an in-home care monitoring solution for the elderly and chronic disease sufferers. The system learns a person's everyday routine and detects any deviations, such as skipped meals, reduced activity or unusual events.

A Tel Aviv University study has found that people harbouring the ulcer-causing bacteria Helicobacter pylori were about 60% less likely to get diarrhoea from Shigella bacteria or other unknown causes.

The Israel Prize for Medicine goes to Professor Marta Weinstock-Rosin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Weinstock-Rosin developed Exelon, for treating dementia related to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Exelon is currently undergoing Phase II trials.

The US FDA has approved SYNRIBO from Israel’s Teva for the treatment of patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia who failed therapy using tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

(Thanks to Atid-EDI) Israel’s BioLineRX announced that its BL-8040 treatment for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) stopped growth of cancer cells in-vitro and caused them to self-destruct. It also reversed any protection given to the CML cancer cells from a bone marrow transplant.

Clinical trials of Alpha 1 Antitrypsin (AAT), developed by Dr Eli Lewis of Ben Gurion University, reduced insulin dependence in Type 1 diabetes sufferers and cured several of the disease. Some physicians are now prescribing AAT as an off-label treatment ahead of FDA approval.

Israel’s Micromedic has reported positive results in its pilot study conducted in Peking Union Medical College Hospital (Union Hospital), a central hospital in Beijing, using the CellDetect product for the detection and identification of cervical cancer.

Israel’s Technion Institute and the Toronto-based University Health Network (UHN) have announced the establishment of the “Technion - UHN International Center for Cardiovascular Innovation”. New ways to treat heart disease can reduce the second leading cause of death in Israel and Canada.

Israeli-developed GPS-based CathMaps+ is the world’s first HIPAA-compliant mobile app for those with elevated risk of a cardiac incident. Android and iOS smartphone users share their medical history with cardiologists and tools include maps of the nearest catheterization labs.

Whilst at Israel’s Weizmann Institute, molecular geneticist Professor Michel Revel developed treatments for MS, ALS and diabetes. Now at 75 years of age, he works at his biotech Kadimastem developing pluripotent stem cells as a regenerative medicine solution for all three diseases.