The hospital said on Friday that a new coronavirus treatment developed at the Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv had successfully completed phase 1 trials. It seems to have helped numerous moderate to severe cases of COVID-19 recover quickly from the disease.
The hospital had a ‘major breakthrough’, saying that EXO-CD24 drug from prof. Nadir Arber was administered to 30 patients whose conditions were moderate or worse, and all 30 recovered – 29 of them within three to five days.
The drug fights the cytokine storm – a potentially deadly immune response to the coronavirus infection that is believed to be responsible for many deaths associated with the disease.
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It uses exosomes – small carrier sacs that transfer materials between cells – to deliver a protein called CD24 to the lungs, which Arber has been researching for decades.
“This protein is located on the surface of cells and has a known and important role in regulating the immune system,” said researcher Shiran Shapira of Arber’s laboratory.
The protein helps calm the immune system and quell the storm.
In this November 19, 2020, a file photo, ventilator tubes were attached to a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills ward of Los Angeles (AP Photo / Jae C. Hong,)
“The preparation is inhaled once a day for a few minutes, for five days,” Arber said. “The preparation is aimed directly at the heart of the storm – the lungs – so unlike other formulas … which selectively limit a certain cytokine, or work widely, but cause very serious side effects, EXO-CD24 becomes local administered, works widely and without side effects. effects. ”
The medicine will now move on to further trial phases, but hospital officials have already seen it as a possible game changer to fight serious COVID-19 diseases.
Roni Gamzu, director of Ichilov, the former coronavirus tsar, said the research “is advanced and sophisticated and can save coronavirus patients.” The results of the Phase 1 trial are excellent and give us all confidence in the method [Arber] has been doing research in his laboratory for many years. ”
He added: “I am proud that we at Ichilov … are possibly bringing a blue-and-white remedy to a terrible global pandemic.”
