Pooled testing was hailed early in the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to quickly and efficiently increase the number of people tested for the virus. But the approach has fallen short of its promise for a variety of reasons, from supply and labor shortages to high community infection rates. Now, a new testing method – recently approved for use by laboratories in Israel – could help chip away at some of those issues.
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) presented a new artificial intelligence technique that could protect medical imaging systems from hacking and human errors at the 2020 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIME) on Aug. 26. Their innovative solution uses a dual-layer architecture that screens for two different types of anomalous instructions to capture those that are always unusual or outside of safe ranges and those that are inappropriate in the specific context.
HONG KONG – Following FDA approval of its IND, Israel-based Kahr Medical Ltd. is set to start a phase I/II trial of lead product DSP-107, a second-generation CD47- and 41BB-targeting compound. The move puts Kahr among a number of companies working on drugs against checkpoint molecule CD47.
Sight Diagnostics Ltd. raised $71 million in series D financing to expand its commercial operations and increase research and development efforts into disease detection from its fingerprick blood analyzer Sight OLO.
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a wrench in routine medical exams, scaring many patients away from in-clinic visits and diverting resources to coronavirus-related needs. For pregnant women, who require frequent checkups but don’t want to risk infection, this can be a particularly trying time. Now, Israeli startup Pulsenmore Ltd. has launched a hand-held device that lets women perform ultrasounds in their own home and relays the results to a doctor or sonographer for evaluation and feedback.
Virtual reality headsets offered a lot of hype around five years ago, but not much in results when it came to medical applications. Medical holograph company Realview Imaging Ltd. has raised a $10 million series C round to enable it to market its first product, Holoscope-i, which offers real-time, 3D holographic images based on any volumetric imaging data during minimally invasive procedures.
Exero Medical Ltd. aims to improve monitoring the gastrointestinal system after surgery with a wireless, biodegradable anastomotic leak sensor implant. It has started a tiny five-patient, first-in-human study as a proof of concept for its technology.
LONDON – Digital health startup Gendius Ltd. is to take a lead role in an Astrazeneca plc initiative to improve diabetes care in the Gulf states, after signing an agreement to deploy its Intellin diabetes management system in the region.
HONG KONG – A researcher at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) has developed a test that identifies those carrying the COVID-19 virus in less than a minute. And it is both affordable and works with greater than 90% accuracy to boot.
HONG KONG – Contact tracing is seen as one of the more effective measures to contain the current COVID-19 pandemic. Now, an Israeli company may hold the solution with its app-free tech. Herzliya-based Wave Guard Technologies Inc. has an algorithm-based solution that allows government health care agencies to trace contacts of COVID-19-infected individuals accurately, effectively and in real time.