Israel Active

A consortium led by Prof. Hossam Haick of Israel’s Technion Institute has secured an eight million Euros grant from the European Union, for early diagnosis and monitoring of schizophrenia. The VOLABIOS project will analyze biomarkers derived from various sources in the body.

The UK Government’s G-Cloud 14 framework now includes the clinical decision-support software platform from Israel’s Seegnal eHealth (see previously). UK NHS trusts, hospitals, and clinics can now easily procure Seegnal's "Virtual Digital Pharmacist".

PixCell Medical (see previously) has achieved EU certification for its HemoScreen Complete Blood Count (CBC) analyzer. It is the first such device to pass the new, strict, European In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation (IVDR). It already is US-approved.

A study led by Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s  Dr. Ido Goldstein has discovered that repeated fasting (e.g. on alternate days) triggers a cellular memory mechanism in the liver, improving its response to future fasting events, offering new insights into metabolic regulation.

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel’s Weizmann Institute and the University of Tokyo have created the peptide D’20 that  targets and inhibits an enzyme called Matrix Metallopeptidase 7 (MMP7). MMP7 helps cancer cells invade surrounding tissues.

Israel’s Teva and Sanofi announced promising Phase 2 trial results for duvakitug, designed to treat colitis and Crohn’s disease. In a 14-week phase 2b multi-national study, nearly 50% of patients achieved clinical remission compared with around 20% on a placebo. Teva’s shares rose 15%.

Surgeons at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem removed a dangerous tumor from the spine of a Jerusalem teenager. They used Israel’s PathKeeper Visionary Surgical Nav System (see previously) to maintain precision and avoid damaging the teen’s spinal nerves.

The American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA) Gala raised a total of $4 million to support Israel’s leading emergency service. It also honored actress and pro-Israel advocate Patricia Heaton, with the Champion of Israel Award.

Israel’s largest hospital, Sheba Medical Center, has opened a branch of its ARC (Sheba’s health transformation and innovation arm) at the Institut de Cancérologie de l’Ouest (ICO) in Nantes, France.  It will help ICO’s 1,400 professionals, who treat over 48,000 patients annually.

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have created a new model for assessing patients on admission to hospital. They enhanced the standard Elixhauser Comorbidity model to include test results, vital signs, and demographic data, with up to 18% better predictions of outcomes.