Monthly Archives: November 2011

BioInvest Israel 2012: Int’l Partnering March 5-6

November 29, 2011 | Comments are closed

With top leading local and global Medtech and Biopharma delegates attending partnering meetings, and more joining in every day, BioInvest Israel 2012 that will take place On March 5-6th at the Dan Carmel in Haifa looks like a new model for doing business. “We believe that partnering is the leading...

Jewish-Arab Study Yields Deafness Mutations

November 24, 2011 | No comments

Precise diagnosis of disease and developmental syndromes often depends on understanding the genetics underlying them. Most cases of early onset hearing loss are genetic in origin but there are many different forms. Heretofore, it has been difficult to identify the gene responsible for the hearing loss of each affected child,...

Andromeda: Successful Phase III Diabetes Trial

November 23, 2011 | No comments

Andromeda Biotech Ltd. announced initial results from a pivotal phase III clinical study. The 24-month study was randomized, placebo-controlled, designed to assess the safety and efficacy of DiaPep277®, a novel immunotherapeutic agent for the treatment of newly diagnosed patients with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). The results from patients who were...

BioLineRx Phase III in India

November 23, 2011 | No comments

BioLineRx (NASDAQ:BLRX) (TASE:BLRX) has received approval from the Indian regulatory authorities and the Indian local ethics committees to commence the Phase II/III CLARITY clinical trial of BL-1020, a GABA-enhanced antipsychotic for the treatment of schizophrenia. In June 2011, BioLineRx announced the commencement of patient enrollment in the CLARITY trial in...

GE Orders WideMed Sleep Monitor

November 18, 2011 | No comments

WideMed (WDMD) Ltd. has received orders for its home sleep monitoring device Morpheus HX systems from GE Healthcare for the Canadian and Korean markets. The device was cleared for marketing to cardiac patients in the US by the FDA in September. s WideMed’s portable home sleep diagnostic and monitoring watch-size...

Avraham Raises $3 M for Neuro

November 15, 2011 | No comments

Avraham Pharmaceuticals has raised $3 million from Yissum Research Development Company Ltd., the technology transfer arm of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Pontifax, Clal Biotechnology Industries (CBI), Technion Research and Development Foundation Ltd. (TRDF), Professor Marta Weinstock-Rosin and others. This investment round follows a U.S. $9 million financing in April, 2010. Avraham...

Weizmann Institute: Surprising Neuro-Hypophysis Discovery

November 7, 2011 | No comments

In a study published recently in Developmental Cell, a team of scientists led by Dr. Gil Levkowitz of the Weizmann Institute has revealed the exact structure of one crucial brain area in which biochemical commands are passed from the brain cells to the bloodstream and from there to the body....

CollPlant Gel in Diabetic Ulcer Trial

November 7, 2011 | No comments

CollPlant has launched a clinical study for a gel to accelerate healing diabetic ulcers based on its recombinant human collagen grown in tobacco plants. CollPlant expects to sell the product in 2013. The market for the gel is estimated at $250 million a year. Because collagen is a structural protein...

Neetour: Respiratory Monitor Trial

November 7, 2011 | No comments

Necessity is the mother of invention: When Dr. Ofer Hornick, looking for a way to monitor the breathing of patients in his anxiety clinic, realized that the kind of device he needed didn’t exist, he began a process that led to the invention of a technology that monitors in real-time...

BiondVax Plans Phase II Flu Vaccine

November 7, 2011 | No comments

BiondVax Pharmaceuticals has announced plans to start a second Phase II trial for the development of a product that is intended to enhance the effectiveness of existing flu vaccines. That product aims to be the forerunner of the company`s ultimate goal – the development of a universal flu vaccine. The...

D-Pharm Phase III Stroke Report in Feb.

November 7, 2011 | No comments

The next crucial milestone is near for the more than 15-year development of a major new ethical Israeli drug. D-Pharm Ltd., (TASE: DPRM) announced that it will be able to determine in February if initial results for its Phase III stroke drug trial indicate enough evidence of a beneficial effect...

Pontifax Raises $88 Million

November 7, 2011 | No comments

Pontifax Ltd. has raised $88 million for its third fund. The fund is the private investing arm of former Teva CEO Eli Hurvitz who provided 10% of the funding. Other investors included Moshe (Mori) Arkin, Prof. Ruth Arnon, Pujo Zabludowicz, and Israeli investment institutions. Pontifax, run by Ran Nussbaum and...

VisionGate Tests Cancer Diagnostic at Tel Hashomer

November 7, 2011 | No comments

VisionGate has entered into a collaboration with the Sheba Medical Center l to evaluate whether its LuCED(TM) test can reduce false positive results when used in conjunction with x-ray CT screening for early lung cancer. LuCED(TM) is used in tandem with VisionGate’s automated 3D cell imaging platform, the Cell-CT(TM), which...

Medigus Raises NIS 9.3 M for World’s Smallest Medical Camera

November 7, 2011 | No comments

Medigus has raised 9.3 million shekels in order to progress with regulatory approvals for its medical procedure video camera. Less than 1 mm in diameter, the camera is the world’s smallest video camera – just 0.99 mm in diameter. The miniature cameras are are designed specifically for small-diameter disposable endoscopic...

Brainsway Trial for BioPolar – Positive Results for MS

November 7, 2011 | No comments

trials is expected during 2012. Brainsway Ltd. (TASE:BRIN) has received an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) approval from the FDA, allowing it to begin a multicenter clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of the Deep TMS device in the treatment of subjects with bipolar disorder. The IDE was granted in respect...

Headway Raises $500,000

November 7, 2011 | No comments

Headway Raises $500,000 Headway has raised $500,000. The company is now in the advanced stages of developing Occiflex, an ergonomic medical device for the treatment of chronic head and neck pain. The company expects revenues within a year. Occiflex performs a three-dimensional sequence of movements in space that mimic conventional...

Nova Scotia: Marine Research and Brain Science

November 7, 2011 | No comments

Marine research and brain science are two likely areas for life sciences collaboration between Nova Scotia and Israel, observed Premier Darrell Dexter during an October visit to Israel. The Canadian provincial leader, in an interview with BioIsrael, cited the Halifax Marine Research Institute, — which draws on the expertise of...

Mentor for Medical Device Startup: Vascular Procedures

November 6, 2011 | No comments

The US Israel Business Council is seeking mentors to work with promising Israeli startups. In the medical device arena the Council has selected HDH Medical. The startup has developed and commercialized a platform technology for creating suture-less anastomosis in hollow organs, including the treatment of occlusions, aneurysms and traumas in vascular surgery....

BrainStorm Gets $1.1 M OCS Grant

November 6, 2011 | No comments

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. (OTCBB: BCLI), has received a grant from Israel’s Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) for $1.1 million (NIS 3.8 million) . BrainStorm is performing a Phase I/II human clinical trial in Israel with the company’s adult stem cell therapy in patients with ALS, often referred to...

Foamix Phase I/II Acne Study

November 6, 2011 | No comments

Rehovot-based Foamix Ltd. announced that two Institutional Review Boards reviewed and cleared its Phase I/II clinical study for Minocycline Foam in Acne patients. The Phase II multicentre clinical trial is designed to assess the safety and clinical efficacy of Foamix’s topical Minocycline Foam in patients with moderate to severe acne....