Israeli Innovation – Treatment With Novel Drug

'We need to make sure Israelis with the COVID19
get the best possible treatment'
Israeli doctor with expertise in infectious diseases is travelling to Japan to assist in treatment of Israelis diagnosed with coronavirus.

Hadassah Hospital’s chief infectious disease expert, Prof. Ron Nir-Paz, is travelling to Japan tomorrow to accompany an Israeli couple who contracted the coronavirus, according to a Health Ministry statement. He added that the goal of his visit was two-fold. “I want to ensure that the treatment they receive is the best that the Japanese can possibly give them. I also need to make sure that when they return to Israel there won’t be any danger to public health and to ensure that - as now - the country remains one of those free of coronavirus.” http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/276053

Israeli firm ready to assist 
coronavirus victims with novel drug
The innovative therapy is based on the research of Prof. Dror Mevorach, a senior physician from Hadassah-Hebrew University Hospital.

A clinical-stage Israeli immunotherapy company – specializing in drug development for sepsis and organ dysfunction – is “ready to assist” health authorities combating deadly complications caused by the novel coronavirus. Based in Ness Ziona, Enlivex’s Allocetra cell-based therapy seeks to treat life-threatening conditions characterized by immune system overreaction – primarily sepsis – through a process of immune system rebalancing. Nearly 270,000 Americans die annually as a result of sepsis, or one-third of all patients who die in US hospitals.

Among the first 99 individuals diagnosed with severe cases of coronavirus, 11 died from multiple organ failure, according to a study published in scientific journal The Lancet. There are currently no FDA-approved pharmacological treatments for such cases.

“Scientific publications in the last 10 years have shown that one identifiable characteristic of hard cases of similar viral infections such as SARS, MERS, avian flu and coronaviruses is a cytokine storm,” Novik told The Jerusalem Post, citing a severe immune reaction that results in massive release of immune system enhancement signals into the blood. “Essentially, the literature teaches us that it is not necessarily the virus that is killing the patient, but it is the overreaction of the immune system.”

While the coronavirus, named COVID-19, can cause mild flu-like symptoms in many cases, more serious cases can lead to sepsis, severe pneumonia, septic shock and acute respiratory distress syndrome. The young, elderly and those with existing chronic conditions are expected to be at greater risk of developing severe symptoms.

“We are targeting sepsis, which is a larger problem than these viral infections and kills way more people every year around the world, with a mortality rate of about 30-40%,” said Novik. “We do believe that we could potentially assist various ministries of health around the world that have a desire to try and help patients whose manifestations of the disease started to result in organ dysfunction and organ failure.” https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-company-ready-to-assist-coronavirus-victims-with-novel-drug-617777

Police give equipment for protection against coronavirus to patrols