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Blue and white breakthrough: A new Israeli drug will increase the life expectancy of lung patients
"Glacia" is produced from the plasma of healthy people, and reduces the need for lung transplantation in patients with a rare disease most often caused by smoking.
Kamhada, which manufactures the drug in Kibbutz Negev, submitted it to the 2022 drug basket, after passing FDA and Ministry of Health approval, at an estimated cost of NIS 4 million
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Health basket
Medication
Lungs
Kamhada
Meirav Cohen
Friday, 13 August 2021, 17:26
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In the shadow of the corona plague, the discussions of the Medicines Basket Committee for 2022 will soon open. Among the medicines submitted to the basket, is the only Israeli medicine for a rare lung disease that is usually caused by smoking.
The drug, produced from the plasma of healthy people and approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Health, reduces the need for a lung transplant.
The cost of adding it to the basket for all patients who need it is estimated at only NIS 4 million.
The main cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also called COPD, is heavy smoking, however in a small proportion of patients (1% -3%), the disease is caused by a genetic deficiency in an essential protein called alpha 1, whose function is to protect the lungs from damage and infection.
In these patients, an ongoing and irreversible process of destruction of the lung tissue takes place, from a relatively young age.
Diagnosis of protein deficiency is determined through a series of tests, including a genetic test.
It is estimated that the disease affects one in two to five thousand Israelis, mainly of European descent, and leads to the development of symptoms at a relatively young age, similar to the symptoms of heavy smoking for many years.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation, patients diagnosed with obstructive pulmonary disease should be tested for the presence of the genetic disease, also known as AAT, which is considered a rare inherited disease.
The American Lung Physicians Association, the European Lung Physicians Association and the Israeli Lung Medicine Association also share the recommendation.
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A blue and white breakthrough developed at a factory in Kibbutz Beit Kama in the Negev (Photo: Official website, without credit)
The first symptoms of rare lung disease usually appear between the ages of 50-20, and include shortness of breath after light exercise, reduced ability to engage in exercise, wheezing and coughing. Other symptoms may also include weight loss, recurrent respiratory infections, fatigue, year-round allergies, recurrent colds, pneumonia and bronchitis.
The only treatment in Israel for the disease is a blue-and-white breakthrough, developed by the Israeli pharmaceutical company Kamhada, which manufactures it at a factory in Kibbutz Beit Kama in the Negev. The drug, called Galicia, is produced from the plasma of healthy people and has already been approved by the FDA as well as approved by the Ministry of Health. Genetic protein deficiency causes other diseases, for example severe liver disease caused due to pathological accumulation of the damaged protein in the liver cells. In very rare cases, the phenomenon causes a number of other diseases, including penicillitis (inflammation of the subcutaneous fat layer) and inflammation of the blood vessels (vasculitis).
The decision will be made by the public committee to expand the drug basket.
Galicia (Photo: Official Website, No Credit)
Glasia is given as an intravenous infusion once a week, and works in the form of supplementing the protein deficiency in the body from an external source, which comes from the plasma of healthy people, in order to raise the essential protein levels in the bloodstream and health of patients.
The goal of complementary therapy is to slow the progression of lung disease, reduce the need for lung transplantation - and in the long run even significantly increase life expectancy.
The cost of putting it in the basket is about four million shekels for less than 15 severe lung patients who need it.
The decision will be made by the Public Committee for the Expansion of the Health Services Basket (Drug Basket) for 2022, based on long-term scientific studies submitted by KamHada.
KamHada specializes in the development of life-saving drugs, based on proteins extracted from human plasma (Photo: Creative Commons)
Kamhada is an Israeli public pharmaceutical company that specializes in the development of life-saving drugs, based on proteins extracted from human plasma. The company has offered the health basket a number of drugs besides Glacia, including Mazid - a very rare metabolic drug called alpha-monosidosis, as well as glutactate - designed for prophylactic and life-prolonging treatment against cytomegalovirus (CMV), which can break out in organ transplant recipients due to post-transplant immune suppression.
Kamahada, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, is also developing a blue-and-white antibody preparation against the corona virus, which is extracted from the plasma of recovering patients and is intended for the treatment of corona patients.
In addition, KamHada has recently begun importing an innovative device for home use called aerobics, which allows for respiratory physiotherapy to be performed using vibration to clear mucus without medication for corona recoverers and lung patients.
These days, the company is also launching a new allergy drug called Ruppin, and is re-launching a prostate cancer injection called Alligard.
Among its other activities, the company produces and supplies the Ministry of Health with a serum against the venom of the venomous snakes common in the country, viper and viper, which has been successfully distributed for about a decade to all emergency rooms in hospitals in the country.
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