News

Lonza, a Swiss biotech company, opens their new Israeli Collaborative Innovation Center (CIC) in the Life Science Park, in Haifa. This Research & Development center features 1,000 square meters of space. CIC employs staff of 15 scientific professionals. Managed by Dr. Frida Grynspan-Gotlieb, the CIC aims to take advantage of Israel’s frontline expertise in software and cell/molecular biology and engineering in order to enhance Lonza’s capabilities.

Lung cancer is responsible for approximately one-fifth of all cancer deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Typically, new-generation drugs are used to treat specific subtypes of lung cancer by targeting their respective genetic mutations. Initially, these therapies are effective in many patients. However, within about one year, the patients tend to develop resistance to the drugs. In response, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science have collaborated with physicians from Sheba Medical Center to conduct a study in mice. They applied a new combination of existing drugs to help suppress potential resistance to the cancer treatment. The results of the study were published recently in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

Israel is a world-recognized leader in medical cannabis research, analyzing the properties of the main psychoactive and non-psychoactive compounds of the plant. Because Israel is one of the few countries in the world to approve research studies on cannabis regularly, the Israeli Ministry of Health founded OWC Pharmaceuticals Research Corp. in 2014 to run the clinical trials.

Sheba Medical Center has joined forces with CLEW, the Israeli clinical analytics company (formerly Intensix), in a unique venture. Together, these leaders in their fields are working to develop the first analytics platform for predicting life-threatening complications in intensive care at an early stage. At present, CLEW is in the final stages of raising $20 million for this project.

Armstrong Williams, an American political commentator, author of a syndicated newspaper column, host of a daily radio show and a nationally syndicated TV show, recently visited Israel as a guest of Sheba Medical Center.

Israel is a world-recognized leader in medical cannabis research, analyzing the properties of the main psychoactive and non-psychoactive compounds of the plant. Because Israel is one of the few countries in the world to approve research studies on cannabis regularly, the Israeli Ministry of Health founded OWC Pharmaceuticals Research Corp. in 2014 to run the clinical trials.

Sheba Medical Center and twenty of Israel’s most promising health technology startups teamed up at the first Chicago-Israel HealthTech Summit. The mission of this union is to transform innovative, high-tech ideas into functional life-saving products.

Prof. Elhanan Bar-On, MD, MPH, recently delivered a medical presentation to the faculty at North York General Hospital in Toronto, ON. During this same visit to Canada, he also gave two intriguing talks about his experiences responding to large-scale medical crises around the globe.

In 2018, Israel climbed up one level to 6th place on the Bloomberg Health Care Efficiency Index. Every year, Bloomberg publishes a new index that assesses and ranks the health care efficiency of 56 countries. In order to qualify for the list, the countries must have a population of over five million, life expectancies of over 70, and a per capita GDP of over $5,000.