Israel Active

Abbott Laboratories’ new multi-year collaboration agreement with the Weizmann Institute is already bearing fruit. Its biological diagnosis processing techniques promise to enable Abbot to develop tests that can be performed at home instead of in distant hospitals.

Israel’s InspireMD has announced significant positive results for its trials of its innovative MGuard coronary stent. Wrapped in an expandable mesh, the stent reduces the risk of life-threatening rupture and embolization during and post surgery when compared to traditional bare-metal stents.

50 top North American hospital bosses were shown around Hadassah and Sheba medical centres and they liked what they saw. From clinical care to service, to IT, clinical technology and crisis management. Joseph Mapa, CEO of Toronto’s Mt. Sinai Hospital said, “It’s state-of-the-art.”

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 .