Scientists across the globe are working on vaccines to prevent Covid-19 infection. But in the meanwhile, and even after initial vaccines are approved, there is an urgent need for effective treatments for the respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Below are 13 potential Israeli treatments using a variety of approaches – such as Ivermectin, placenta-derived cells, peptides, blood plasma of recovered patients, and the cannabis compound CBD.
Israeli hospitals were among the first anywhere to use dexamethasone, a steroid drug, to stop cytokines storms and reduce lung inflammation in severely ill COVID-19 patients. However, steroids can suppress the immune response too strongly. Additionally, an Israeli hospital is among the first to do a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of ivermectin, a drug to treat parasitic infections in people and animals, to see if it can shorten the duration of the disease if given to Covid-19 patients immediately after diagnosis. Israelis are also formulating novel therapeutics of their own.
PLX, an injected regenerative placenta-derived cell therapy, stimulates the immune system’s natural regulatory T cells and M2 macrophages, possibly preventing or reversing a cytokine storm. PLX cells potentially reduce the incidence and/or severity of Covid-19 pneumonia and pneumonitis.
Jerusalem-based Silkim Pharma recently submitted Coronzot, its novel treatment for Covid-19 patients with moderate to severe symptoms, to the FDA’s Investigational New Drug (IND) program. Coronzot’s novel mechanism targets a pivotal factor in cytokine storms. It removes an inflammatory overaccumulation of labile iron and replaces it with a minute amount of gallium or zinc.
