An anti-cancer drug welcomed as a “cure” for coronavirus in Israel

Experimental anti-cancer drugs may help hospitalization Coronavirus Researchers believe that they will recover faster.

Israeli Today’s scholars claim that 29 out of 30 patients with moderate to severe Covid treated with EXO-CD24 have fully recovered within 5 days.

Further human testing is needed to prove that inhaled drugs designed as drugs to combat ovarian cancer actually work.

This study did not compare the drug to placebo. That is, scientists cannot be sure that the drug is behind the patient’s rapid recovery.

The anti-cancer drug EXO-CD24 has been welcomed by the Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, as a treatment for coronavirus after successful clinical trials.Photo: Israeli woman vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine at Tel Aviv vaccination center on Tuesday

However, data show that the average coronavirus patient who needs hospital treatment spends up to three weeks in bed.

Scientists administered the drug to 30 patients with severe or moderate Covid infections.

The age of the patient is not clear, but the data show that younger patients die of the coronavirus and are much less likely to recover faster.

29 showed a significant improvement within 3-5 days. It is not clear if the patient was also receiving other medications or treatments.

What is EXO-CD24?

Professor Nadir Arber of the Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv’s Integrated Cancer Prevention Center spent years developing EXO-CD24 for cancer treatment before testing in patients with coronavirus.

EXO-CD24 is the first cancer treatment developed to treat ovarian cancer.

It is inhaled as a gas and acts locally on the lungs.

The drug uses a small carrier sac called an exosome that moves substances back and forth between cells to deliver a protein called CD24.

This protein helps regulate the body’s immune response and reduces the number of cytokines released.

Cytokines are produced by the body to fight infection, but too much can cause the fatal hyperinflammation that occurs in the worst case of the coronavirus.

Professor Nadir Arbor of Ichilov’s Center for Integrated Cancer Prevention Israeli era:’The formulation is inhaled once daily for several minutes for 5 days.

“Because the preparation is directed directly to the heart of the storm, the lungs, EXO-unlike other formulations that selectively suppress or act broadly on certain cytokines but cause many serious side effects. CD24 is locally administered, has widespread action, and has no side effects. “

The symptoms of the 30th patient also improved, but the Israeli media claimed it was outside the five-day period.

The sample size of the study was too small to draw remarkable conclusions about the efficacy of the drug. The data has not been published in the journal.

Professor Nadir Arber of Ichilov’s Center for Integrated Cancer Prevention spent years developing drugs for ovarian cancer before trying it in patients with coronavirus.

According to Professor Arbor, EXO-CD24 is taken once every 5 days and is relatively cheap, but the exact cost has not been disclosed.

It was first developed to treat ovarian cancer before researchers explored the potential of coronavirus treatment.

It works by reducing the overreaction of the immune system to the virus.

Coronavirus can cause a brutal immune response that shuts down a major organ in the body known as a cytokine storm.

The drug delivers a protein called CD24 directly to the lungs using a small carrier sac called an exosome that moves substances back and forth between cells.

Researcher Silan Shapira Israeli era: “This protein is on the surface of cells and plays a well-known and important role in the regulation of the immune system.”

Professor Arbor told an Israeli news site Arutz Sheva:’The coronavirus stays with us, even if the vaccine plays its role, and in the absence of any new mutations.

“That’s why we developed this special drug: EXO-CD24. This is unprecedented.

“It’s been about half a year since the idea hatched and the technology was created until the first human experiment was conducted and Phase 1 of the test was completed.”

Researchers plan to conduct a study of the drug in hundreds of patients and compare the results with placebo.

Israel today announced that it will ease the blockade, but will keep the international airport and border closed after the spread of coronavirus cases has decreased slightly.

“The government has accepted proposals from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health to ease the blockade from 7 am on Sunday,” their office said in a joint statement.

Despite being called the world’s fastest per capita vaccination campaign, official figures show that Israel is enrolling an average of 6,500 new Covid-19 cases per day from about 7,000 last week. I am.

The strict national blockade, which came into force after December 27, was extended four times to combat infection rates, but January was the worst month with more than 1,000 Covid deaths.

According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health, Israel has registered more than 675,000 cases of Covid-19, including 5,019 deaths.