http://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Inhibiting an enzyme may cure Alzheimer’s. Israel’s ProteKt Therapeutics is developing a treatment for early stage Alzheimer’s disease. It inhibits the PKR enzyme that is over-expressed in Alzheimer’s patients and may slow or even reverse the progress of the disease. It also has potential for ALS, Huntington and Parkinson’s.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-startup-hopes-to-battle-alzheimers-with-enzyme-busting-drug/
Orphan status for pancreatic cancer treatment. (TY Atid-EDI) The European Commission has just granted Orphan drug status to the BL-8040 (Motixafortide) pancreatic cancer treatment from Israel’s BioLineRX (see here). BioLineRX can now receive benefits including EU funding, less regulation, and market exclusivity.
https://ir.biolinerx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/biolinerx-receives-orphan-drug-designation-motixafortide-bl-8040
HealthTECH World Cancer Day. Tel Aviv University represented Israel on World Cancer day as one of five European cities simultaneously broadcasting news of the latest technological developments in cancer diagnosis and treatment. The event was sponsored by the NOBEL Project, which is revolutionizing healthcare in Europe.
https://en-med.tau.ac.il/event/healthtech/world/cancer/day/2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sTRkSG6Zwc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsgEkVqQF0I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBVdtmZz3WA
Sheba’s partners Berlin AI for cancer R&D. (TY Atid-EDI) Berlin’s caresyntax, has launched an R&D partnership with the ARC (Accelerate, Redesign, Collaborate) complex at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center. They will use Artificial Intelligence to develop algorithms for predicting outcomes for cancer treatment procedures.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200107005204/en/caresyntax-ARC-Sheba-Medical-Center-Launch-Collaboration https://caresyntax.com/news/caresyntax-sheba-medical-launch-collaboration/
US approves complete AI stroke detection package. (TY Atid-EDI) The US FDA previously approved the brain scan software from Israel’s Aidoc (Oct 2018),. It has now approved all four of Aidoc’s AI products, so its comprehensive package can quickly identify and triage both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in CT scans.
https://www.aidoc.com/blog/news/ai-saving-brain-fda-clears-aidocs-complete-ai-stroke-package/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OQOZedPlmY
Accelerating regenerative medicine. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s CollPlant is partnering with US-based 3D Systems to spur breakthroughs in regenerative medicine. It brings together top 3D-printing technology with Collprint’s bioink technology for 3D bioprinting of tissues and organs.
https://ir.collplant.com/press-releases/detail/83/3d-systems-and-collplant-biotechnologies-join-forces-to
https://www.3dsystems.com/press-releases/3d-systems-and-collplant-biotechnologies-join-forces-accelerate-breakthroughs
Space medical research with Italy. (TY WIN) Israel and Italy are to launch a satellite in March, on which medical research will be conducted in zero gravity. The mission involves Israel’s SpacePharma (see here), Israel’s Technion, Sheba hospital, the Hebrew University and the Israeli and Italian space agencies.
https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/02/06/israel-italy-eye-joint-scientific-space-venture/
https://www.jpost.com/Jpost-Tech/Israeli-scientific-experiments-to-be-performed-in-outer-space-597127
https://www.space4p.com/missions
Body on a chip. (TY David F) A team of over 50 researchers at Harvard University and Tel Aviv University (TAU) have successfully built human “organs-on-chips” that aim to speed up trials of new treatments. They have linked 10 chips together to form a “functional human Body-on-Chips platform”.
http://nocamels.com/2020/02/tau-harvard-researchers-human-body-chip-drug-response/
Microsoft Israel gives patients hope. As reported previously (Feb 2019) Microsoft’s Israeli R&D team developed the Microsoft Healthcare AI virtual medical assistant. Team leader Hadas Bitran describes the project. They are now working on the New Hope project to match patients with clinical trials around the globe.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/this-microsoft-health-assistant-bot-was-made-in-israel/
The first Hasid to graduate from Israeli med school. Dr. Yehuda Sabiner is the first Israeli-born Haredi to graduate from medical school. A member of the Gerrer Hasidic sect, Yehuda enrolled at Israel’s Technion, graduated and will intern at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center. 35 Haredim are now following in his footsteps.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/first-israeli-born-hasidic-doctor-blazes-new-trail-in-medicine/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vtf2pPywyY