Some of Israel’s neighbors resemble
contestants in a fanatical
"competition" to see who can cause as much mayhem and
destruction as possible. The Jewish
State, however, is competing in an entirely different kind of race.
In the fight against cancer, there have
been two recent Israeli successes. The ImMucin
cancer vaccine developed by Israel’s Vaxil Bio produced strong immune
and antibody responses in Phase I/II trial patients. Vaxil even taxied one cancer patient from Gaza to Jerusalem and
back for his regular injections.
Meanwhile the 500,000 Russians that contract cancer every year will
cheer the plans that Africa Israel announced to develop
oncology centers in Moscow, where there is a severe shortage of
specialist facilities.
43 million Chinese sufferers of the debilitating
Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) will be celebrating the news that Israel’s
BioLineRx has licensed its oral HCV treatment to China. And asthmatic children everywhere can
breathe a little easier now that Inspiro Medical’s smart
dry-powder inhaler breezed through a critical clinical trial at
Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikvah.
Other recent Israeli medical achievements
include:
-
The discovery
of a new protein that treats pain and fertility problems in women
suffering from angiogenesis of the uterus.
It can also cure life-threatening side effects of IVF treatment.
-
Europe’s approval of the non-invasive glucose
monitor from Israel’s Integrity
Applications.
-
Israel’s fledgling start-up Eon
Surgical and its scar-less
surgery technology received a huge boost when it was taken-over by US
giant Teleflex before it had even made its first sale.
-
And even caesarian
sections shouldn’t leave a scar once hospitals start using the cold
plasma BioWeld1 from Israel’s IonMed for closure of surgical incisions.
Two of the most startling medical stories:
-
Hadassah Medical Center doctors who
labored for four hours in order to deliver the conjoined (“Siamese”)
twins of a Palestinian Arab woman.
-
One of the two latest Syrians to be airlifted
to an Israeli hospital from next door’s civil war arrived with a note from
his Syrian doctor containing details of his injuries.
Some Israelis recently received formal
recognition for their technical endeavors:
-
Marganit Cohen-Avrahami won a Kaye Award
from the Hebrew University for her skin-permeable
nano protein gels that treat illnesses via the skin, thus avoiding the
side effects of oral medications.
-
Professor Ilan Sela won his Kaye Award
for discovering the virus responsible for Colony
Collapse Disorder (CCD) in bees and then for his work developing its
treatment.
-
Gadi Mazor of Israel’s OurCrowd won
the Blackberry Achievement Award for Entrepreneur of the Year. Gadi’s Nobex
Radio for BlackBerry has played to over 12 million users.
Israelis have also done quite well
collectively:
-
Israel is now ranked as the world’s
leader in cyber security – up from 19th place in 2012. The news came as Tel Aviv University was
hosting the Third
International Cyber Security conference.
-
Israel’s RAD Data Communications won
one of the 2013 NetEvents Technology Innovation awards for its MiNID device
that configures almost every piece of telecom equipment just
by plugging it in.
Some of Israel’s winning agro-technology
innovations made progress last week:
-
The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture
approved the use of Israel’s non-toxic
"Tamar Tech" pesticide based on edible oils. It protects leaves,
stems and fruits from attacks by insects, spider-mites and fungi.
-
Israel’s Evogene is working with
Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group (DBN) to
increase fertilizer uptake and drought tolerance in rice. Evogene has several candidate genes to
improve this vital crop.
Cyclists keen on winning road races would
be wise to invest
some funds in the world’s
first spray device for cyclists, Q-Fog provides 400
sprays of cooling water that evaporates from your body. Enjoying slightly faster speeds, Jerusalem’s
streets were filled last week with 160,000 spectators (including Muslims,
Christians and Orthodox Jews) cheering on Formula
1’s winning Ferrari racecars.
One person who really deserves an award is
Governor of the Bank of Israel, Professor
Stanley Fischer who has begun his final
lap before retirement. He will
be happy to hear that exports from Israel to the UK increased
by over 50 percent in the first quarter of 2013. On the subject of successful exits, I must
include a mention of Google’s
takeover of Waze – the Israeli social traffic application with almost
50 million global users. At over $1
billion, it is one of the largest
purchases of a start-up in Israel’s history.
Finally, one of UK Chief Rabbi Lord
Jonathan Sacks’ winning activities before his retirement was to give an
inspiring speech to thousands at the “Closer to Israel” event in
London. He spoke of Israel’s
innovations and humanitarian activities as well as the success that Arabs enjoy
in the Jewish State. And in a wider
context, “Israel is a blessing not just to its citizens but to the world.”
There’s the answer then.
Everyone’s the winner.
Michael Ordman writes a free weekly
newsletter containing Good News stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to
michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com
