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.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
Profile
Company: Libra Project
Based: Masdar City, ADGM, London and Delaware
Launch year: 2017
Size: A team of 12 with six employed full-time
Sector: Renewable energy
Funding: $500,000 in Series A funding from family and friends in 2018. A Series B round looking to raise $1.5m is now live.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Company%20profile
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GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
'Midnights'
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
