Israel Active

Israel’s VisionCare has raised a further $4 million to finance the marketing of its implantable telescope, smaller than a pea in size, for the treatment of end-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

69 year-old retired paediatrician Dr Vladimir Promovich became blind last year. When doctors at Kaplan Medical Centre received a donated cornea, they used new technology to divide the cornea for transplantation into two recipients – one being Dr Promovich. After full recovery, Dr Promovich has promised to volunteer at Kaplan. “After all, I worked here, and now they have given me my sight back.”

Meir Turgeman was one of the first residents of Sderot in 1955. 25 years ago he became deaf due to defective middle ears. A titanium implant device was placed inside his skull, receiving and transferring stimuli directly to the auditory nerve and he began to hear immediately. Referring to the threat from Gaza rockets he said, “I will be able to run to the shelter when the Red Alert is sounded.”

I reported in May that Israeli biotech Compugen discovered 4 new protein variants that stimulate the immune system into targeting cancer cells. Now tests have shown that CGEN-15001T will fight carcinomas, sarcomas, melanoma and haematological cancers.

(Thanks to Israel21c) Israel's RedHill Biopharma is to perform advanced clinical trials of a once-a-day drug, code-named RHB-102, to prevent nausea and vomiting - often a side effect of chemotherapy and radiation therapy for cancer. Current medication for this purpose must be taken several times per day.

US General Electric Company is backing Israel’s Check-Cap who are developing an ingestible and disposable imaging capsule that can image the colon in 3D. The capsule will require no bowel cleansing and no hospital visit, allowing patients to go about their daily routines.

The US Food & Drug Administration has given approval to Israel’s Applied Spectral Imaging for its in-vitro aid that can detect chromosomal aberrations in bladder cancer. The SpotScan GenASIs Scan & Analysis system targets cells based on colour, size and their signals pattern.

Israel’s CartiHeal has developed a unique implant Agili-C that turns body cells into bone and cartilage. The company has already received EU CE Mark certification based on pre-clinical trials alone. Researchers at Ben Gurion University discovered the concept and the company was set-up in 2009.

Tel Aviv Uni researchers have found that chromosome aberrations leading to cancer, happen in pairs. Using combined techniques from computer science and statistics they have discovered that many chromosomal pairs are lost or gained together across various cancer types.

(Another Tel Aviv Uni discovery) Specific laboratory tests for leg muscle endurance and gait the pattern of movement, while walking or running are highly effective in identifying mobility deficits at the initial stage of Multiple Sclerosis – far earlier than standard neurological tests .