Israeli researchers continue to advance in cancer treatment methods, this time taking a huge step forward in treatments for Myeloma patients. After a new treatment was found at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, with a 90% success rate achieved in a clinical trial, the findings seem to promise a brighter future in the ongoing battle against cancer. Around 300 in Israel get sick with myeloma cancer every year, along with millions across the globe.
The treatment developed by Professor Cyril Cohen from Bar-Ilan University together with Professor Polina Stepansky from Hadassah Hospital has a few elements to it. The clinical trial was conducted on multiple myeloma patients whose disease had relapsed or was resistant to drugs. The pharmaceutical company Immix Biopharma has already bought the rights and will develop drugs based on the success of the trials.
Hadassah's Dr. Polina Stepensky is leading change with an innovative treatment for the deadly blood cancer multiple myeloma. She discusses this at @Jerusalem_Post's Women Leaders Summit in #Israel.
ā Hadassah (@Hadassah) February 28, 2023
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Prof. Cyril Cohen said: "In my laboratory at Bar Ilan University, we developed a new treatment for multiple myeloma patients and another disease called amyloidosis. We scanned and built a number of receptors, we found the strongest and best receptor, and we inserted it into the cells of the immune system of sick people. We examined how the improved and engineered cells are able to fight against the cancer cells and the diseased cells in those patients".
"When we identified the optimal receptor, we transferred it to Prof. Stepansky and our partners at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, and this is how this treatment became available to patients," said Cohen, "about 60 patients were treated with it. The patients who received the high dose of the engineered cells experienced success rates ranging from 60% in to 100%, an astonishing statistic. While using the treatment on amyloidosis patients, the disease completely stopped spreading."
Breakthrough on multiple myeloma treatment in Israelhttps://t.co/QNx6FbM8dz
ā Hillel Fuld (@HilzFuld) January 10, 2023
Prof. Cohen concluded: "For the first time, we were able to successfully reprogram the immune system of patients with the help of a unique receptor that we developed. Thanks to the collaboration with Hadassah, dozens of patients will benefit from the future promise of better treatments. The successful treatment encourages us to continue developing new approaches to the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases ".
Zohar Yanon, CEO of Bar-Ilan University, commented on the achievement: "This is another example of the diverse research in the fields of health and medicine that is conducted in the Bar-Ilan University laboratories, as well as an example of the ecosystem that produces groundbreaking research and initiatives that can be commercialized by researchers in the faculties of medicine, life sciences, for engineering and at the multidisciplinary center for neuroscience and at the institute for nanotechnology and advanced materials operating at the university."
