On the Jewish
festival of Passover, we sing the song “Dayenu”, which means “Enough”. The song expresses our thanks for each stage
of the Exodus from Egypt and we highlight that each event on the journey would
have itself been sufficient. Medical
achievements of the modern State of Israel, however, clearly shows that today’s
Israelis are not content with doing merely “enough” as these examples from the
last 3 months illustrate.
In the medical
arena, Israeli scientists have broken all bounds in their search for cures for
deadly diseases. Not only have three
Israeli research teams discovered what keeps cancer cells growing,
but they have just found a chemical that causes them to
self-destruct. Another cancer
treatment from Israel’s VBL
Therapeutics in Phase 3 testing prevents solid tumors from obtaining sufficient
blood supply – causing them to die.
Just in case any of these amazing
discoveries don’t succeed, scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have used
a twin-attack
using inhibiting molecules EGFR and PYK2 against previously incurable triple-negative
breast cancer, to significantly reduce the size of tumors. Meanwhile, the amazing MRI-focused ultrasound
treatment from Israel’s Insightec
that has been curing tremors and removing uterine fibroids has now been given
the CE mark to go
beyond its current boundaries and additionally treat prostate cancer
non-invasively. And Technion’s Israeli-Arab Professor Hossam Haick is taking
his Na-Nose breath test further by using
it to detect cancer even in apparently “healthy” people.
Cancer treatment in Israeli hospitals is
not limited just to Israeli citizens.
At Sheba hospital in Tel Hashomer,
40% of Dr. Yoram Neumann’s oncology
patients are Palestinian-Arab children from the Territories and Gaza. Indeed, Palestinian Arab children occupy 50%
of the unit’s beds. Meanwhile, Israeli
and Palestinian Arab researchers have been working together to discover risk factors
for B Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in both
communities.
It seems so
appropriate that the Israeli biotech Biondvax has developed the Universal Flu Vaccine
M-001. Israeli scientists felt that it
was not
sufficient to target individual strains of influenza, but to look for a
comprehensive solution. A 20% subsidy from the Israeli Government, plus a $2.8
million private investment should hopefully be sufficient
for Biondvax to build a factory producing tens
of millions of doses of M-001 annually, including for Phase 3 trials.
Here are some
more, recent Israeli medical innovations that are “over and above” what most
would consider normal thinking. First, instead of treating resistant MRSA
infections with limited
antibiotics, researchers at Israel’s Technion Institute have
neutralized the deadly bacteria by attacking the unique amyloid fibrils it uses
to attack the immune system. Next, patients will soon no longer suffer damage
to brain tissue and spinal cord during neurosurgery thanks to the ArtiFascia biodegradable
nanofiber protective patch developed by Israeli biotech Nurami Medical.
Nurami, by the way, was founded by Israeli Jewish and Arab graduates.
Then, when
sufferers of blood loss trauma
were found to be dying of hypothermia, Israeli startup QinFlow’s developed its Warrior
portable system which warms the bloods and fluids used in transfusions faster
than any alternative system.
Who but Israelis
would have gone this far? One of
Insightec’s tremor patients was petrified of being enclosed in the MRI treatment
machine, so staff at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center first
gave him hypnosis therapy, and now he’s cured of the tremor and the
psychosis! Or how about the PMD200
device, developed by Israel’s Medasense Biometrics and recently granted
European approval, that can monitor
pain in unconscious patients so that surgeons can still effectively
assess and manage their pain? And the
HyperQ device from Israel’s Biological Signal Processing (BSP) that discovers
heart problems that normal ECG tests cannot. Even anti-Israel Venezuela
has purchased them!
I have sufficient
space only to mention Israeli startup TPCera which uses
the excretion from parasitic
worms to treat auto-immune
diseases. Or the smart human airbags
developed by Israel’s Hip-Hope to protect
the elderly from life-threatening falls. And only an Israeli company such as Medaware
would have had the “chutzpa”
to develop a system to tell doctors that they had written out a prescription
that could endanger their patient’s life.
Israeli doctors
recently saved an Arab baby born with her
intestines outside her abdomen.
After birth, surgeons at Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital put her organs
back in place and closed the wound with the Israeli TopClosure
Tension Relief System.
Finally, Israeli
surgeons at Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital, can now detect and correct
abnormalities in the fetus from eight weeks after conception. Irregular heartbeats, anemia, twins sharing
placentas, congenital hernias, repairing spinal cord. Israeli doctors are saving
life before it has even begun!
Israel - always trying to do more.
Michael Ordman writes a free weekly
newsletter containing positive news stories about Israel.
www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
and a searchable archive www.IsraelActive.com
For a free subscription, email a request to
michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com
