A new Treatment against severe COVID-19 in Israel achieves 95% effectiveness in Patients

A new treatment for coronavirus being developed at the Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv in Israel has successfully completed phase 1 trials and appears to have helped numerous moderate to severe cases of COVID-19 to recover quickly from the disease, Israeli hospital authorities announced Friday.

Hailed as a “breakthrough”, scientists claimed that the substance EXO-CD24 developed by Professor Nadir Arber It had been administered to 30 patients whose conditions were moderate or worse, and all 30 recovered, 29 of them within three to five days.It is a formula specially designed to treat moderate and severe cases of the coronavirus that must be applied by means of direct inhalations.

The drug fights the cytokine storm, a potentially lethal immune reaction to coronavirus infection that is believed to be responsible for much of the deaths associated with the disease. The same, which was being tested in the Tel Aviv hospital, has shown an estimated efficacy of 95% in patients who are hospitalized with acute COVID-19 pictures.

Cells in blue are shown infected with the coronavirus under the electron microscope – NIAID 

The development uses exosomes, small carrier sacs that transport materials between cells, to transport a protein called CD24 to the lungs, which Arber has spent decades researching. “This protein is found on the surface of cells and has an important and known role in regulating the immune system,” said researcher Shiran Shapira from the Arber laboratory.

“The preparation is inhaled once a day for a few minutes, for five days and once entered the body, it goes directly to the heart of the cytokine storm, so, unlike other formulas that selectively restrict a certain cytokine, or operate widely but cause many serious side effects, EXO-CD24 is administered locally, works widely and without side effects, “the expert added. The drug will now move into new testing phases, but hospital officials were already hailing it as a potential game changer in the fight against the serious illness COVID-19.

Ichilov’s director, Roni Gamzu, a former coronavirus czar, said the research “is advanced and sophisticated and can save coronavirus patients. The results of the phase 1 trial are excellent and give us confidence in the method that Arber has been investigating in their laboratory for many years.”. He added: “I am proud that at Ichilov we are possibly bringing a blue and white remedy to a terrible global pandemic.”

The Israeli treatment was successful in 30 patients and awaits official approval. 

“I have been working on the issue for 20 years and it must be understood that the coronavirus has two phases, the first is a normal flu that does not require any treatment but there is a second that affects 5% or 6% of the population, in this the immune system overreacts and that is why damage occurs in the lung. What we do is basically regulate the immune system through the knowledge of the exosomes that what they do is communicate the cells, we isolate them and people can be cured ”, explained Arber.

Thanks to its ease of production and depending on national and international regulations, a worldwide supply of the product could be achieved in about two months.

Although the drug does not reduce the presence of the virus in the body, it does reduce the impact that it has on the lungs as its main focus, thus reducing the symptoms, because when the immune system overreacts there is damage to the lungs, pattern that is treated with this medication to avoid death, concluded Arber.