The Health Ministry has authorized Stage 2 and Stage 3 clinical trials of a coronavirus drug developed by Professor Nadir Arber of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.
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A group of 152 coronavirus patients in moderate and serious conditions will be treated with the medication. Their results will be compared to participants who receive a placebo.
Given the dramatic decrease in morbidity in Israel, Sourasky Medical Center has asked to collaborate with other hospitals across the country to ensure there are enough participants to perform the clinical trials.
At the same time, large-scale trials funded by Athens will be held in Greece following the authorization of the European Medicines Agency. In addition, the Georgian government announced it would fund clinical trials. There have also been talks to hold clinical trials in India and Brazil, two countries with high coronavirus morbidity rates.
Developed in Arber's lab, the Israeli medication is called EXO-CD24. Upon inhaling the medication, it works to calm the cytokine storm – the severe and sometimes life-threatening immune response seen in severe coronavirus patients.
In February, the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center reported the medication was found to be 96% effective in 30 patients. To date, the medication has been administered to 35 patients, all of whom recovered from the coronavirus within days and were released from the hospital. Six of those patients were administered a higher dose of EXO-CD24.
"I believe the trial will end within a few months, and we'll know if we have a medication for the coronavirus in another year," Arber said.
He noted that "a year and a half into the pandemic, there is no medicinal treatment that has proven effective against the disease. I am happy about the Health Ministry's authorization, and since there aren't many patients in Israel, I hope to collaborate with other centers across the country."
Some in the scientific and medical community criticized the publication of the results of the initial clinical trials under the headline "Israeli coronavirus medicine" at the time.
Now, according to Arber, "We must examine the efficacy of the medication against the placebo. On one hand, we must maintain modesty and humility. As doctors, we need to be conservative. On the other hand, it's crazy to think that the Torah will go forth from Zion and medicine from Jerusalem."
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