by Keren Setton
JERUSALEM, May 5 (Xinhua) -- In face of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Israeli hi-tech industry has focused its efforts on seeking innovative solutions.
Pluristem Therapeutics, a company based in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, announced last week it had received a grant of 50 million U.S. dollars from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to further advance its stem cell therapy in curing COVID-19 patients. Pluristem specializes in creating regenerative medicines using full-term placenta cells.
Once the COVID-19 case was first detected in Israel in early March, the company started searching for a therapy to treat the patients suffering from the disease.
"Our cells are able to secrete therapeutic proteins which are anti-inflammatory," said Yaki Yanay, CEO and president of Pluristem, in a video conference held by the Israeli Foreign Ministry. "The cells also balance the immune system and help it regain capacity to fight COVID-19."
Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in Israel, over 16,000 people have contracted the virus and 237 have died.
Yanay said that seven patients have already been treated in Israel with the placenta cell therapy.
"We see promising initial data, a 100 percent survival rate and improvement which resulted in extubation," Yanay added. The therapy was administered under compassionate use protocols.
The success has been widely reported. Yanay revealed that his company receives hundreds of applications a day from the patients, families and doctors who hope to try the therapy in an attempt to save lives.
Diagnostic Robotics, a big data and machine learning firm based in Israel's city of Tel Aviv, has developed an AI-based digital risk assessment and monitoring platform that has been adopted by the Israeli Health Ministry.
The anonymous symptom survey is sent out on a daily basis to people and through their answers, an outbreak epicenter can be predicted. The data collected is translated into a heat map that allows health officials to see a visual presentation of the spread of the virus.
Kira Radinsky, chairman and chief technology officer of Diagnostic Robotics, said that there is an 86 percent participation rate amongst the Israeli population which has helped pinpoint future outbreak locations.
"Based on our map, the ministry of health has made quarantine decisions and exit strategy decisions," she said.
The technology is also being used by health authorities in the U.S. and India.
Diagnostic Robotics has announced it is willing to donate the system to any country interested in deploying the system.
Kamada, an Israeli bio-pharmaceutical company that creates plasma derived antibodies, has been developing antibodies specific to the virus.
It uses and purifies the plasma from the patients who have recovered from the virus, in the hope of using it to treat active patients. Scientists from the Israeli company are waiting for sufficient amounts of convalescent plasma in order to further their progress.
"The product is going to be available very soon. It is already in clinical development," said Amir London, CEO of Kamada.
There are Israeli companies who are focusing on using their existing technologies in other fields, not only in the medical treatment of COVID-19 patients.
One of the main challenges of the COVID-19 is the need for continuing education for the students stranded at home due to the virus. This is where a company named Kaltura steps in.
As an one-platform based video solution, it provides the software for huge virtual classrooms already being used worldwide. Up to 500 people can participate in one conference and there are different solutions for larger necessities, such as large scale webinars.
"We launched a campaign immediately at the beginning of COVID-19 offering our platform to educational institutions at no cost until the beginning of June 2020," said Noa Oron, director of global business development at Kaltura.
The move was done in collaboration with Amazon Web Services. Some countries have already adopted the browser-based platform.
Legend has developed an AI-based sports training program to help the kids keep on practicing despite staying at home.
Essentially a virtual coach, the kids receive challenges and get scores and see if they are improving. There is also an option to compete with peers worldwide. AI verifies if the challenges were preformed correctly.
"Kids often define themselves by the sports that they play," said Yoav Naveh, co-founder of Legend.
Legend has partnered with many clubs to increase the amount of content and help people continue to maintain a weekly activity schedule.
"We are all dealing with the same problems around the world and the same enemy, a virus that effects the entire world in the same way," said Lior Haiat, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Haiat hoped that Israel's efforts will help promote solutions for coping with the COVID-19 challenges around the world. Enditem
