The Land of Israel, also known as the Holy Land or Palestine, is the birthplace of the Jewish people, the place where the final form of the Hebrew Bible is thought to have been compiled, and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity. (Wikipedia) It also has a thriving biotechnology sector, fueled by an educated workforce and strong government funding initiatives.
Blockbuster prescription drugs sold worldwide that treat multiple sclerosis, cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases derive from Israeli biotechnology. Israel creates more medical devices per capita than any other country, and its life sciences exports earn more than $3 billion a year. (Madein-Israel.com)
Looking through the vast array of Biotech’s in Israel, I had many stellar companies to choose from. I looked for innovative companies that have not yet set up operations in the U.S. to showcase Israeli-based companies.
My choices are:
Biosight Pharma, Israel, is developing innovative therapeutics for hematological malignancies and disorders. Their lead product, aspacytarabine (BST-236), is an innovative proprietary anti-metabolite designed to enable high-dose therapy with reduced systemic toxicity. It may serve as an ideal therapy for leukemia, particularly for delivering high doses of cytarabine to medically unfit or older adults who otherwise cannot be treated by effective doses of chemotherapy.
BST-236 is being investigated as a single-agent in a Phase 2b for first-line treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS):
OSSIO, Israel, has created bio-Integrative OSSIOfiber®, a breakthrough fixation material technology that provides the first credible solution to the shortcomings of permanent metal hardware, conventional resorbable and allograft implants.
Strong and Bio-Integrative OSSIOfiber® implants provide a unique matrix of fibers made from minerals like those already found in bones to support strong fixation and enable early bone attachment, gradual bone and tissue ingrowth, and complete integration, all without local or systemic adverse response.
OSSIOfiber ® offers surgeons and patients the confidence and certainty of a fully Bio-Integrative solution that utilizes existing reimbursement and surgical techniques and provides a more natural healing environment.
Immunovative Therapies, Ltd, Jerusalem, is a clinical stage Israeli biopharmaceutical company specializing in the translation of proven immune mechanisms into immunotherapy products and protocols for treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Our patented “Mirror EffectTM” technology provides an immunological platform for the development of drugs that elicit the same powerful anti-tumor and anti-HIV effects of bone marrow/stem cell transplant procedures while eliminating the devastating side effects of the procedure and the need for a tissue matched donor. We have two products in clinical development: AlloStim®, a bioengineered living cell allograft; and Chaperone-Rich Cell Lysate (CRCL), a patient-specific heat shock protein vaccine. AlloStim combines with a tumor cryoablation (killing by freezing) method to create an in-situ cancer vaccine called CryoVaxTM and combines with CRCL to create a personalized cancer vaccine called AlloVaxTM.
Vaxil™ Bio Ltd., is an Israeli immuno-oncology biotechnology company developing novel immunotherapies including neoantigen-like peptide products, and antibodies to treat cancer and infectious diseases. Vaxil’s products are derived from its fully owned proprietary platform VaxHit™, which in effect allows for the identification, isolation, and production of uniquely specific antigen-based immunotherapy products. Vaxil’s products are derived from its fully owned proprietary technology VaxHit™, which uses the Signal Peptide (SP) domain in selected targets as core antigens (see technology section). Vaxil’s lead product, ImMucin, which has received FDA Orphan Drug Status, was designed for the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) cancer. Immucin™ is composed of the entire SP domain of the MUC1 tumor associated antigen (TAA), and has successfully completed a Phase I/II clinical trial in 15 MM patients demonstrating a high safety profile, robust immunity and initial hints for clinical efficacy. Vaxil™ is currently performing an additional Phase I/II study with ImMucin in metastatic breast cancer patients being treated with 1st line hormonal therapy. Vaxil also isolated SPmAb-2.1 and SPmAb-6, the only anti-MUC1 SP antibodies harboring superior therapeutic and diagnostic properties vs. other MUC1 antibodies. Vaxil further validated its VaxHit technology for anti-infective indications, isolated MTBuVax™, a multi-antigenic sub-unit LP vaccine against mycobacterium Tuberculosis (MTb) currently in pre-clinical animal studies.
ImmunoBrain Checkpoint (IBC), Israel, is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel neuroprotective immune therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. IBC licensed its platform IP from Yeda, the commercialization company of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. IBC developed a proprietary fully human anti-PD-L1 antibody, engineered based on its mechanism of action to treat Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. IBC plans to start its first-in-human clinical trial in early 2022.
Emosis, Israel, addresses thrombosis, a localized clotting of the blood leading to the obstruction of the arterial or the venous circulation, is a pan-vascular issue that crosses the borders of all medical specialties. To address hemostasis and thrombosis complexity in a clinically useful way, Emosis relies on flow cytometry, a powerful technique that revolutionized clinical hematology (e.g. phenotyping of leukemia) and immunology (e.g. HIV).Conventional assays, whether related to coagulation or platelet function, are bulk assays measuring average values over heterogeneous sets of molecules or populations of cells. In contrast, flow cytometry enables a granular assessment of platelet activation through the measurement of 10 to 20 variables per single cells (e.g. platelets), over tens of thousands of cells (platelets) within second.