Researchers at Tel Aviv’s biggest hospital, Ichilov, are reporting what could be a major game-changer in the fight against the Covid-19 virus — a drug which is curing corona patients with a 96 per cent success rate. Thirty patients who were suffering from moderate or serious levels of Corona were given the new EXO-CD24 drug, developed by Professor Nadir Arber from Ichilov’s Cancer Prevention Centre. Only one patient failed to respond: 29 others showed “a marked improvement” within two days of taking the new drug within just 3-5 days.
It is administered through inhalation, once a day, in a procedure that takes only a few minutes, for five days, Arber told the Jewish News Syndicate. The medicine will now move on to additional trial phases, though the hospital sees it as a potential game-changer. For many patients with severe infections of the novel coronavirus, it is not the virus itself that kills them but the series of events it triggers. One of the most fatal outcomes is when patients develop Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) with cytokine storms. Cytokines are protein groups that coordinate the immune response. In severe cases of COVID-19 and even pneumonia, a “cytokine storm” can take place, where a positive feedback loop creates an immune response so strong it damages critical bodily functions. It has been hypothesised for years that targeted interventions on the cytokine storm itself could help with cases of severe pnemonia.
Based on the exosomes that the body is releasing from the cell membrane and uses for intercellular communication, with the 24CD protein enrich the exosomes, play an important role in regulating the immune system. The medicine will now move on to additional trial phases, though the hospital sees it as a potential game-changer.
