After successfully treating 30 patients with severe cases of Covid-19, Israeli scientists in Tel Aviv are hopeful their new drug can play a key role in saving lives and helping the world recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s difficult to see a patient with Covid-19 because they cannot breathe, it’s like drowning,” said Nadir Arber, who has led the study at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Centre.
“Now they can start to breathe again,” he said.
The drug developed by the team at Ichilov hospital prevents an overreaction of the immune system, which Dr Arber said affects 6 to 7 per cent of coronavirus patients.
“What we call the cytokine storm. Our immune system thinks there’s a big invasion, they’re shooting everywhere,” he said of the syndrome, which can be fatal.
Ichilov released its initial findings earlier this month, from a stage one trial of 30 patients aged between 37 and 78. All but one recovered quickly and they were discharged after four days, on average, Dr Arber said, shorter than the six-day period for coronavirus patients across Israel.
The treatment was stopped for one patient who was admitted to the intensive care unit, but she ultimately recovered.
“So this is it and now there is a huge demand from all over the world; I’m speaking to prime ministers, presidents, and this is very exciting,” said Dr Arber, who heads the hospital’s Integrated Cancer Prevention Centre.
The new drug harnesses a gene, known as CD24, that suppresses the immune system. Dr Arber has worked on the gene for 20 years.
Researchers placed CD24 on to exosomes – extremely small molecules derived from cell membranes – to develop a drug that patients can inhale.
“It goes directly to the lung. It’s sophisticated but it’s easy,” Dr Arber said.
While the initial results are promising and patients suffered no side effects, the research is in its infancy.
Phase two trials will expand the study to a few dozen patients and include a control group, while the third phase that may begin later this year will involve hundreds or potentially thousands of patients.
These broader studies will include patients internationally, although Dr Arber did not say which countries might be involved.
Greece has offered to participate in future trials of the “miracle drug”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday after separate meetings with his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and Dr Arber.
Shiran Shapira, a doctor who runs the laboratory where the drug was developed, said she was feeling positive about the treatment’s potential.
“It’s really fast and easy to produce, and even cheap,” she said. “We were working on CD24 for two decades and with the exosomes for almost five years, so we had all the parts, and we just combined them and developed this technology.
As scientists develop new ways to treat Covid-19 and its effects, doctors have turned to existing drugs to help patients.
A UK study published in June found that dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory steroid, cut the risk of death by more than a third among patients on ventilators.
Randy Cron, who in 2019 co-edited a book on the cytokine storm syndrome, said he predicted at the start of the pandemic that “immunosuppressive steroids are probably going to save the day”.
“Steroids aren’t a home run either, they saved maybe a third of the patients’ lives that got them, but that’s better than nothing,” he said.
The sense of urgency to tackle the pandemic and prevent patients’ immune systems going into overdrive has had one “silver lining” for Dr Cron – that people are learning about cytokine storm syndrome.
“If you don’t recognise a cytokine storm, you’re not going to treat it. And if you don’t treat it, patients are going to die,” said Dr Cron, a professor of paediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Aware of the grave risks of such a scenario, Bibi Ayesha, a doctor in New York, led a task force last year to identify patients at risk of developing the syndrome.
The vast majority of 288 patients included in the study were treated with steroids, while 31 were given biological treatment commonly known as antibodies.
“Biological therapy has a very narrow window,” said Dr Ayesha, a rheumatologist at Montefiore Medical Centre in New York. “If it’s [administered] early, it is proven to be beneficial.”
“There is no perfect cure, it’s the timing,” she said. She cautioned that to understand the most effective treatments, more data are needed.
“There has to be a combined effort where all these specialists can put their minds together and help the patient in a timely manner,” including rheumatologists and immunologists, she said.
Despite inoculation drives getting under way in the US, Israel and elsewhere, Dr Arber said the new drug will play an essential role in overcoming the pandemic.
“This, with vaccinations … we can go back to normal life,” he said. “We must go back to normal life.”
Abdul Jabar Qahraman was meeting supporters in his campaign office in the southern Afghan province of Helmand when a bomb hidden under a sofa exploded on Wednesday.
The blast in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed the Afghan election candidate and at least another three people, Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak told reporters. Another three were wounded, while three suspects were detained, he said.
The Taliban – which controls much of Helmand and has vowed to disrupt the October 20 parliamentary elections – claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mr Qahraman was at least the 10th candidate killed so far during the campaign season, and the second from Lashkar Gah this month. Another candidate, Saleh Mohammad Asikzai, was among eight people killed in a suicide attack last week. Most of the slain candidates were murdered in targeted assassinations, including Avtar Singh Khalsa, the first Afghan Sikh to run for the lower house of the parliament.
The same week the Taliban warned candidates to withdraw from the elections. On Wednesday the group issued fresh warnings, calling on educational workers to stop schools from being used as polling centres.
TICKETS
Tickets start at Dh100 for adults, while children can enter free on the opening day. For more information, visit www.mubadalawtc.com.
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The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
Price, base: Dh1,731,672
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm
Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm
Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km
It's Monty Python's Crashing Rocket Circus
To the theme tune of the famous zany British comedy TV show, SpaceX has shown exactly what can go wrong when you try to land a rocket.
The two minute video posted on YouTube is a compilation of crashes and explosion as the company, created by billionaire Elon Musk, refined the technique of reusable space flight.
SpaceX is able to land its rockets on land once they have completed the first stage of their mission, and is able to resuse them multiple times - a first for space flight.
But as the video, How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster, demonstrates, it was a case if you fail, try and try again.
How does ToTok work?
The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store
To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.
The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.
Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- Margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars
- Energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- Infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes
- Many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts
Roll of honour: Who won what in 2018/19?
West Asia Premiership: Winners – Bahrain; Runners-up – Dubai Exiles
UAE Premiership: Winners – Abu Dhabi Harlequins; Runners-up – Jebel Ali Dragons
Dubai Rugby Sevens: Winners – Dubai Hurricanes; Runners-up – Abu Dhabi Harlequins
UAE Conference: Winners – Dubai Tigers; Runners-up – Al Ain Amblers
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.6-litre V6
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 310hp
Torque: 366Nm
Price: Dh200,000
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
Our legal advisor
Rasmi Ragy is a senior counsel at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Prosecutor in Egypt with more than 40 years experience across the GCC.
Education: Ain Shams University, Egypt, in 1978.
Last-16
France 4
Griezmann (13' pen), Pavard (57'), Mbappe (64', 68')
Argentina 3
Di Maria (41'), Mercado (48'), Aguero (90 3')
Brief scoreline:
Manchester United 2
Rashford 28', Martial 72'
Watford 1
Doucoure 90'
