While senior Ministry of Health officials admit that we are at the beginning of Gal Corona Friday, Yossi Ben, CEO of the biotechnology company Amorphical, wonders if this time - given the rise in verified and the number of patients in critical condition - they will take him seriously.
Three months ago, when the state was dealing with tens of thousands of verified in the Omicron variant, Ben successfully completed a second phase of a clinical trial of a drug for corona.
43 severe patients who received the amorphous carbonate calcium it produces - recovered in less than a week, and were discharged from the corona wards.
About two weeks ago he received another stamp for his research drug, called "Amor 18": The final results of another experiment, which took place this time in a spacecraft in which Eitan Steve also took off, showed that the bone and muscle cells of an adult receiving amorphous calcium increased remarkably - though Lack of gravity and cosmic radiation.
The cells that received normal calcium hardly developed.
Despite the important achievement - reality slapped him in the face, just as it did to Putin in the invasion of Ukraine.
While the United States, China and several European countries are examining the results of the study, most medical professionals in Israel are demonstrably ignoring Ben. For them, he is a farmer from the Arava who plays doctor and patient.
White especially remembers a meeting in the Knesset with the chairman of the health committee, MK Idit Silman, just before she resigned from the coalition.
"I came to her office with a lot of hope," he says.
"I left behind the frustration that Dr. Sharon Elrai Price is not counting me, and the fact that people around the Minister of Health, Nitzan Horowitz, did not bother to respond to my inquiries.
"I sat in front of her, presented the results of the experiment and asked my heart to organize a debate in the Knesset to approve the drug in an emergency, because many patients can be saved with its help. I was surprised by her unexpected answer. Silman said things like 'What are you trying to do here? Of money'.
I got madly mad.
I asked her if she could hear herself.
I saw these words as a violation of Zionism.
Patients in Israel are more important to me than money.
I could have saved at least 7,000 dead. "
The world does not yet fully understand the plague, and you offer a lifebuoy in the form of calcium. One can understand why this sounds delusional to them.
"So let them listen to our scientists and read the studies. In the Ministry of Health there are people who often appear in the media, and they do not believe in our product even after the experiment. They act like I offered to cure cancer with parsley. To me, they act like little officials."
"Fertilizer for the human body"
A boy with blue cancer.
"I noticed that they leave two small white marbles on the bottom of the aquarium," Photo: Eric Sultan
The allegations of ignoring his research do not cloud the feeling that this is Yossi Ben's year.
Nothing in the past of Ben (61), a farmer and entrepreneur and who founded the antelope farm in the Arava, hinted at the path he chose.
He was born in Casablanca, Morocco, and at the age of a year and a half immigrated to Israel with his parents and brother, the eldest of whom is the former commander of the IDF, David Ben Shimol.
"To support us, six brothers, my mother cleaned houses and worked in the kitchens of restaurants," says Ben.
"At the age of six, I was sent to a boarding school, and I actually enjoyed it. Every year I took chess championships. I started high school in a boarding school in the Green Village, but I got bored. I did not study and only walked in the Golan Heights or in the desert.
"At the age of 17, I went down to Sharm el-Sheikh, lived there for a few months and worked as a fisherman.
Ben Sheldag, the Air Force commando unit, did his military service.
When he was released, he moved to the Ministry of Defense and worked in aircraft security and embassies.
There he also met his wife, Shlomit.
In 1985, when he was 24, the couple moved to Moshav Tzofar in the Arava, where their three children were born - Arbel (37), Eden (33) and Zohar (23).
"I fell in love with the place during my training in the IDF, and we came to the Arava out of Zionism," his blue eyes gleamed.
The search for special animals for the farm, is what changed Ben's professional life.
"Shortly before 2000, Israel's fishing industry imported blue crabs from Australia, which are used all over the world for food. In my eyes, they were spectacular in their beauty, and I decided to grow them ornamentally. I set up a breeding center and exported them in boxes abroad.
In time I noticed that the crabs shed their armor so they could continue to grow, and rebuilt it within three days.
For normal cancer it takes much longer.
I also noticed that they leave two small white marbles on the bottom of the aquarium.
"I was intrigued, and asked some professors from Ben-Gurion University to investigate the issue of blue crabs, but they waved at me. What about a Arava farmer and scientific research? "Research in the world is looking for it. The fact that it is amorphous and not crystalline, like regular calcium, allows it to be absorbed much more. I immediately realized that I have a treasure in hand. I wanted to make this substance a fertilizer for the human body."
Ben realized that it would be difficult to produce a commercial amount of amorphous calcium from the two small marbles, and in 2004 he founded Amorphical, whose plant is located in the Sapir industrial area in the Arava.
He produced calcium there inspired and according to a formula built on the blue crabs, and thus emerged about a decade ago the "density" capsules, which he claims constitute 18 percent of the calcium market share in Israel.
One of the first people to benefit from Ben's invention was the Rimon Negro, the legendary fighter from the Paratroopers' Cruiser and the owner of the mythical 101 Inn.
In 2013, Pomegranate contracted thyroid cancer, which sent devastating metastases to the bones and head.
It was estimated that he would not survive more than three months.
But then Ben offered to try his calcium, making him an unofficial experimenter.
Today, the remains of the disease cannot be seen on a 88-year-old pomegranate.
In March 2020, he even ran in the Knesset elections.
"I preferred to focus on Israel"
"I fell in love with the place during my training in the IDF, and we came to the Arava out of Zionism." Yossi Ben, Photo: Arik Sultan
Ben's offices and research laboratories are spread over two floors in an office building in Ness Ziona.
In the conference room is a huge aquarium with two beautiful and lazy blue crabs, immersed in a deep coma.
There is no evolutionary similarity between them and classical cancer.
They look like a hybrid of a lobster and a scorpion, wallowed together in a phosphorescent paint bath.
How did you come to the conclusion that a mineral can cure patients infected with a global epidemic?
"Already four years ago, after a long process of internal research, I realized the product I have in my hands. Calcium builds bone, and carbonate, which is a type of salt, treats inflammation and is responsible for regulating acidity in the body. When both are unbalanced the body enters the aging process. Local infections are affected and develop - from joint pain, through osteoporosis to cancer.
"Then the corona started and everyone was under pressure. The company's investors from China told me in early 2020 about the mysterious virus, the catastrophe and the dead. We, at the company, realized it was a serious lung disease and she was very intrigued by me. And I knew that amorphous calcium carbonate could help.
"While I was debating whether to offer our product to the Chinese, the corona came to Israel. As an Israeli and a Zionist, I preferred to focus on our population. At first. I and the scientists at the company had to zoom in with senior doctors, and some of them let us wait 50 minutes. One of the hospital managers immediately asked how much money we were willing to pay them. It felt like a market to me. I did not think money would be a factor in saving lives.
"I later realized that many of them preferred the big companies, pouring millions to do drug and vaccine research. No senior doctor found time to enter into a professional discussion with our scientists. It was more important to run to the TV studios. You do not want us to do the experiment? No problem. But come and listen.
"There is a global epidemic here, everyone is looking for solutions, and you can get blue and white Israeli development. Give it a chance. We did hundreds of studies, some on animals, and not all of them were published in the professional literature because it was important for us to register patents. "Since then, I have valued less professors of medicine. I have discovered that many of them have a narrow world, with no ability to see sideways or think outside the box."
Perhaps the doctors were afraid of aggravating the patients' condition?
"This is not a chemical drug with side effects. So I was stubborn. I left the zoom calls and drove from the Arava to meet with them. On the way I heard on the radio reports of the dead and I shed tears. For months I ran around frustrated. I asked, 'Talk to the company scientists, everyone is famous World ', but I received condescending answers. Many of them did not even bother to reply to the emails we sent.
"It got to the point where the company's business development manager, Hezi Ben Avraham, took a desperate step. He ambushed one of the doctors who was involved in sports activities, to convince him to treat us. It didn't help either. Eggs. "
"I assumed we would succeed"
In mid-2021 the country was defeated within the fourth wave, after the Delta strain also infected vaccinated.
The Corona Cabinet approved the use of antigen tests, and at the same time it was decided to vaccinate the population with a booster.
The number of verified was increasing, as was mortality and the number of patients was severe, most of whom were not vaccinated.
At the beginning of September, Israel won the dubious title: "The country has the highest number of nationals in the world in relation to the size of the population."
Ben recognized the medical vacuum and despair in the population.
He sent Ben Avraham to try his luck with the director of the multicenter clinical trials unit at the Ministry of Health, Eyal Lavie.
"It was the first breakthrough after a year and a half of stubborn courtship of doctors," Ben's eyes widen.
"Lavie gave us permission to perform the first phase of a clinical trial among patients in critical condition, in hospitals that would agree to cooperate with us. Willing to pay them.Because I do not have the millions of big drug companies, it has become a journey of anguish.There were also doctors who preferred to look for a drug on their own.
"The first light at the end of the tunnel was Dr. Ronit Zeidenstein, director of the corona department at Shamir Medical Center, Assaf Harofeh in Tzrifin.
She agreed to admit five patients to a trial that included our research drug, in addition to the drugs that had already been given and that did not always help.
After that, Ichilov also agreed to try the drug on one patient.
In November 2021 the trial was officially opened, and the six patients received Amor 18 by inhalation and powder given under the tongue.
They recovered within a few days.
"A month later we started with the second phase of the trial, out of three. This time there were 60 patients aged 18 to 80, who were in moderate to severe condition. 37 from Ziv Hospital in Safed, 20 from Assaf Harofeh and three from Kaplan in Rehovot. Half of them received Amor 18, in addition to "The drugs are regular, and the other half served as a control group, which received regular drugs and a placebo."
In March 2022, the results of the second phase of the experiment were published in the media, and the significant results left no room for doubt.
All 30 patients who received the Amorphical study drug recovered within a few days and were released to their homes.
Out of the control group, the condition of seven of the patients (approximately 23 percent) worsened, and they were transferred to intensive care.
Three of them died.
In light of the results, the directors of the corona departments at Ziv applied to the Ministry of Health, asking them to regularly use the aforesaid 18. Because the experiment did not reach the third and final stage, the Ministry of Health refused. Approval to give the drug as compassionate treatment in severe cases.
"Thanks to this decision, seven more patients recovered and joined the study's statistics, including an 84-year-old man whose wife died of coronary heart disease," says Ben.
"I assumed in advance that we would succeed, but to see it happen in reality was very exciting."
Does not the fact that the recovering patients received your research drug in parallel with other drugs, reduces its success?
"Amor 18 can stand on its own, as a single drug, and see it by the results of the control group. Although most senior Ministry of Health officials do not count me yet, I was happy to find that at least the corona projector, Dr. Salman Zarka, examined the results in depth.
"Unfortunately, he does not have the authority to approve Amor 18 as an emergency medicine."
Given the fact that it is impossible to predict what the number of patients will be severely in the current wave, how will you approach the final phase of the trial?
"First of all, I hope the number of serious patients will go down. In terms of continuing the trial, there is no problem. Corona is a lung disease, so I will soon start a similar trial in ten patients suffering from COPD, which is a chronic lung disease, and candidates for lung transplant at Ziv Hospital. For that, we're on our way to a similar clinical study at Rochester University in New York State, where it will first be performed in animals.When said 18 will be approved by the FDA as an official drug, it will also fit Corona.
"Next month, eight amorphous studies will appear in medical publications, one of which is related to the latest experiment in Corona. From that moment on, I will be walking around with a machete and not with silk gloves. This is a war on our product. So far we have registered 124 patents "Where he is provided, and I will make sure that everyone knows what his quality is. I am going to change the world."
"Erosion in space"
Eitan Steve with the miniature lab, Photo: Courtesy of Spice Pharma
On April 11, around 4:00 a.m., his son woke up to the sound of a text message.
He knew immediately what it was all about.
Three days earlier, Eitan Steve had taken off for the International Space Station, paying about $ 50 million to become the second Israeli astronaut.
With him in the spacecraft were sent 35 Israeli experiments, which passed NASA approval and came from a variety of fields related to medicine, communications, astrophysics and optics. One of them was the Amorphical experiment, which tested the effect of calcium carbonate on bone and muscle cells in space.
"That day I slept in the family's apartment in Palmachim, and I was alone. The message I received, from the owner of an Israeli company working with NASA and space centers in Europe, read: 'Erosion of experimental images in space.
There are people here who want to present your experiment to the governor of Florida.
I smiled.
The pictures of the experiment came to me the day before, and I saw that the results were good and identical to the corresponding experiment we did on the ground.
I was excited, so I left the house full of adrenaline and elation.
I walked alone on the beach and sang to myself.
When I got home, I called my wife and woke her up.
I told her that we also succeeded in the second experiment. "
"Life on other planets"
"In recent days, we have received the box that was in space, and the results on the ground and in conditions of non-gravity - identity."
Test tubes like the one sent into space,
Space travel is not Ben's local whim.
"Five years ago, a 17-year-old girl from a science major at Ma'ale Adumim High School approached me and offered to send an experiment with our calcium into space," he recalls.
"At first I was undecided. I consulted with the person in charge of the company's preclinical trials, Orit Acker, and we decided to support the project. Orit, who is a scientist and expert in cell cultures, suggested that we use mouse bone cells, feed them calcium and see if they develop. , And we knew in advance that we could not compare the results.Even then we saw that the cells can be constructed even in a state of non-gravity.
"To understand the significance of the results, one needs to know that being in space causes bone and muscle mass to be lost, especially when astronauts stay in space for about six months. Amorphous calcium carbonate can improve their condition, and it went up even then. Its value was clear, but space was of less interest to us, also because there was no control group.
"A few months ago, I was approached by the Ramon Foundation and offered to submit an experiment, which will be performed on a flight in which Steve participated. It belongs to the Israeli company Spice Pharma, which develops miniature laboratories for space research. "
With perfect timing, Acker enters the conference room with a small, transparent box, called a "media," with a sort of eight tiny test tubes inside.
"It's an experiment that matches the experiment that was in space," she explains.
"Each test tube contains muscle or bone cells, and with the help of a tube they are automatically fed amorphous calcium or regular calcium. In recent days we have received the box that was in space, and the results on the ground and in conditions of non-gravity - identity."
What does the experiment mean for humans living on Earth?
Ben: "This means that in the future it will be possible to settle in space without worrying about the health of the pilots. It will be possible to live in cosmic space for years.
"The important results to me emerge from both the space experiment and the corona experiment, and are that calcium carbonate amorphous can inhibit aging processes. People will be able to live here, not only for many years, but they will be healthy and quality."
Joining the conversation is research assistant and laboratory assistant Sarah Neumann, who has worked in the cell field at the Weizmann Institute for more than 30 years.
"One can look decades ahead and fantasize about life on other planets," she says, "but here and now space tourism is evolving. Unlike previous flights, Steve's launch did not last a few minutes, but lasted two weeks. Our calcium can help against bone and muscle thinning. Space tourists on such flights. "
To what extent was Steve himself involved in your experiment?
Ben: "He is a dear man but he was not involved. We simply 'rode' on this well-publicized space flight. We are now writing a medical article on the subject of space research, and we have already referred the matter to the US Patent Office."
"Not looking for awards"
Ben's last two studies have instilled in him a strong creative spirit, and ideas are breaking out at an exponential pace.
He currently conducts more than 22 studies in Israel and around the world related to amorphous calcium, and manages to juggle them at a level that does not embarrass Artium Dolgofiat.
In addition to lung disease, some of the trials involve chronic bowel disease, fractures due to bone thinning and cancer.
Where are you headed from here?
"My fantasy is that the whole population will use our product. That's how healthier kids are built. I think in the future I will put amorphous carbon calcium into food products, like yogurt. I also give one of my bitches calcium, and she's bigger and more vigorous than her sisters."
How much does the space experiment put you on the map?
"This is another stamp. In Israel and in the Ministry of Health they can ignore me, even slander me or call me a charlatan, but ego matters not interest me. Whoever laughs at me today, will eat the hat in the future. I have two references, Corona and Space, and it's not What about that.
"My ambitions are high. Instead of staying a company that makes a dietary supplement, I want to become one of the largest drug companies in the world. All of my dietary supplements, built on amorphous calcium carbonate, are in the process of being registered for drugs, whether in the US, China, Taiwan or Germany.
The day I founded Amorphical - that's where I was headed.
The dietary supplement is the economic basis, the research and experiments are the future. "
Will you make an exit?
"There is no chance. I am not looking for awards and I should not be nurtured all day long. This company will continue to be Israeli and will remain located in the Arava. I am not for sale, nor are the patents. That will remain the case. There is no point in waving billions at me.
"Anyone who wants to, is welcome to collaborate with me or can get franchises on some of the products. I know it's hard to digest that a natural mineral can change our lives, but sometimes the genius lies in simplicity. I believe the last two experiments we did, plus the following studies currently brewing Other".
•••
The Health Minister's Office responded:
"The matter was answered in response to a parliamentary question. It goes without saying that decisions regarding the use of drugs, vaccines and preparations are made by professionals and experts of the Ministry of Health, and not by a political echelon. In this case".
The Corona Fighting Information Center said in response:
"Before medical treatment is approved for extensive administration, its safety and effectiveness must be demonstrated in a well-established study. "Needless to say, the study in question was not published in the professional press and did not pass peer review, as is customary. The Ministry of Health told the company that it must complete the research as usual, and then the use of the preparation will be re-examined."
MK Idit Silman did not respond.
tala@israelhayom.co.il
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