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Pluristem CEO touts a new generation of medical treatments

Yaky Yanay at Dubai conference: They put Israel on the map as an island of innovation

Yaky Yanay, CEO of the biotechnology company Pluristem, who participated in the life sciences panel at the Global Investment Forum in the United Arab Emirates, which was sponsored by The Jerusalem Post and the Khaleej Times, said: "Our technological platform for developing placental cell therapies for unmet medical needs is a groundbreaking development that puts Israel on the map as an island of innovation."

Pluristem's innovative technology develops medical treatment using the placentas of women taken after birth, and is very intriguing to the world and especially the Gulf states. The company is already collaborating with the Stem Cell Center in Abu Dhabi.

Yanay said: "These ties will establish the possibility of real peace and a good relationship between the two populations, who want to work together and discuss possibilities of increasing technological collaboration.

"We are meeting and talking about the possibilities for expanding the technological, research and clinical collaboration, and there are quite a few partners on the other side who want to bring advanced technologies to the Gulf."

Yanay explained that the process involves the expansion of placental cells taken after a full-term birth, with the mother's consent, and that the company's technology - developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology - which mimics the actions of the human body, allows cells to be expended in a controlled and replicable manner outside the human body.

Yanay pointed out, "We are able to produce more than 20,000 treatments from one placenta. The platform we have built provides the optimal conditions for cell growth without the need for genetic matching to the patient. Once the cells are injected, they communicate with the body, speak its language; and once the cells receive the signals, they can react properly and carry out the proper actions - for example, to lower the level of inflammation and produce a healing effect that lasts for a long time.

"This is a new generation of medical treatments. We have partners in the United States and Europe, and we are working with the US military and local government there. We are working with NASA and receiving widespread support from government bodies, and this week, we received the first ?20 million from a ?50 million funding agreement from the European Investment Bank.

"There are cells that are designed to treat patients who have had a bone marrow transplant due to cancer and the transplant was not successful, as well as cells for the treatment of massive muscle injuries that require rapid rehabilitation; and we also treated corona patients who have been intubated, in order to reduce inflammation and treat respiratory. These innovative treatments are very important for the elderly population, as exemplified by corona.

"Our platform forms the basis for a wide range of treatments and indications in the future. When one can control the technological process, one can maximize the clinical process.

"We understand that the platform will enable the development of necessary products in order to prepare the world to face the coming challenge of ageing."