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Within a year: An Israeli drug against bird flu |
At present, there is no solution in the world against bird flu · Existing drugs are
ineffective against the disease
An Israeli company is developing a drug against avian influenza. The drug is expected to
be on the market in about eighteen months' time. "Although it is no longer making headlines,
bird flu continues to spread. Moreover, recent reports from Malaysia indicate that
the disease is definitely transmitted from man to man and not only by fowl, which was
formerly the case," says Sion Balass, CEO of Matrix Pharma, the company that is developing
the drug. "This means that the mutation we were afraid of already exists, and it is
only a matter of time until the disease forms a worldwide health problem." According to
Balass, the drug will be ready within less than a year, and within about eighteen months
will be available for purchase.
The death rate among people infected with avian influenza is especially high (50%). To
date, about 130 people have died of the disease, most of them in Asia. The absence of a
cure is the cause of great concern among state health authorities worldwide – including
Israel – which have stocked up on drugs against the disease, such as Relenza and Tamiflu,
although it is well known that all of these medications are not effective against the virus,
since it has succeeded in rapidly mutating to a form that is resistant to them. This capability
of the virus also prevents the manufacture of a vaccination that is effective against
future strains.
Matrix Pharma has applied a different approach to the drug's development: instead of developing
a drug that will neutralize or prevent viruses – whose nature is unknown – from
penetrating human cells, it is developing one that will protect the cell under attack in
terms of its healthy functioning. This will prevent the cell from allowing the virus to multiply
and thus stop it from spreading.
The drug development process is a very long one, and nevertheless fewer than 10% of
the drugs that reach the clinical trial phase pass the test and are approved by the authorities,
mainly due to the drug's toxicity or its partial effectiveness.
Matrix Pharma's scientists, headed by Dr. Marcel Thuerk, have developed a process in
which the drug's action is tested simultaneously with its possible toxicity from the outset.
The platform they have developed is based on artificial intelligence, which simultaneously
optimizes ten and more indices in all phases of development and screens the source materials
tested in the laboratory, until those substances with the greatest chances of success
are identified in the pre-clinical and clinical trial phases.
Thanks to its unique nature, the cost of the entire discovery process is a mere one million
dollars, a paltry sum compared to the immense costs involved in developing drugs in the
classic methods. Matrix Pharma is managed by Sion Balass, whose family is active in international
trade in infrastructures. The company has offices in Israel, Great Britain, Germany
and the US.
Published in "HAYADAN SERVICE",
November 21, 2006
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