Israel ― the Land of Milk & Honey and Med Tech Boom
By Rick Fromme
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| Photo credit: medinisrael2013.com |
This is the first part of a
series that explores Israel’s extraordinarily robust medical technology and
pharmaceutical industries. In this first installment, I’ll discuss some of the
reasons why Israel has become a world leader in these two fields.
(Incidentally, Israel has one of the largest numbers of high-tech start-ups per
capita as well.) Subsequent installments will feature some of Israel’s most
dynamic companies and their products.
Israel is home to nearly 700
medical device outfits, with companies in all of the industry's in-demand
markets. Furthermore, its venture capital investments continue to rise with
continuing momentum. In fact, “Forbes” has recently
cited its picks for the top ten most important health tech companies. Five are from Israel:
- ReWalk – A wearable robotic exoskeleton that helps those with spinal cord injuries to walk
- uMoove – Face and eye-tracking software that diagnoses autism and ADHD based on eye movement
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| Photo credit: telesofia.com |
- Telesofia – A platform for doctors to generate personalized videos for their patients
- Totali LLC – Its new app, Totally Pregnant, is a pregnancy companion app for mothers-to-be
- Help Around – A peer-to-peer support system for diabetes patients delivered via a mobile application
IDF Incubates Innovation
Mah nishma? (Hebrew for “What’s up?”) How did a country that’s only 66 years old, about the size of New Jersey (8,019 square miles), and with roughly the population of Virginia (around eight million) become one of the world’s most vibrant go-to medical technology leaders?
Ever since the fledgling nation had to defend itself from
a military coalition of several Arab countries and volunteers the day after it was
granted statehood in 1948, necessity has been Israel’s mother of invention. From
the infamous Uzi compact sub-machine gun, to its rocket-destroying Iron Dome system,
the IDF spends a considerable amount of funding on R&D and training each year.
That, in combination with Israel's mandatory military service for 18-year-olds,
and you have the IDF and Israeli Air Force (IAF) producing thousands of
engineers and med tech innovators each year, Yanai explains.
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| Photo credit: givenimaging.com |
“When they leave defense, they
have the ability to come up with ideas and, more important, they have the
courage at a young age to risk years of salary by sitting in the garage or the
back office somewhere, trying to come up with something new," Yanai said.
Take, for example, Given Imaging,
which has now become one of Israel’s most prominent med tech firms. The
company’s founder, Gavriel Iddan, was an IDF-trained engineer working in a
government-owned defense R&D outfit when he embarked upon efforts to
miniaturize missile-guiding technologies and invent a small medical imaging
device. Hence, the birth of the PillCam, a swallowable capsule containing tiny
video cameras and transmission technology.
Non-invasive capsule endoscopy allows physicians to see inside patients’
small and large intestines without using an endoscope. Especially considering the
difficulty involved in accessing the narrow, winding 23-foot length of the small
intestine, the PillCam SB series is an endoscopic breakthrough. This past February,
the PillCam COLON, designed
to image the entire large intestine, also received FDA approval. That’s good news
for Ireland-based Covidien, which had struck an $860 million deal to buy Given Imaging
to gain access to its lucrative technology.
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| Photo credit: techtime.co.il |
Other Israeli med tech firms that
have shown chutzpah include Tel Aviv's Cardiosonicwww.cardiosonic.co.il/
for its ultrasound-powered renal denervation therapy, and Jerusalem’s Brainsway for its Deep
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) system to treat depression, Alzheimer’s
disease and autism.
Tikkun Olam in Practice
“Israel’s highly educated technical
and medical workers are reared in a society that prizes problem solving and innovation
and that places tremendous value on curing illness and saving lives," David
E. Williams, president of the U.S.-based Health Business Group explains. In fact, one of the most important tenants of Judaism is tikkun olam, a Hebrew phrase that means "repairing the world."
“Start-ups related to the Internet
are fairly straightforward,” explains Guy David PhD, professor of healthcare management
at Wharton School of Business and a fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health
Economics. “To develop a successful [Internet] application you need an idea and
programmers. But with medical technology, the matter is more complex because it
involves potential structures in production.”
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| Photo credit: cyclonemobility.com |
Dr. David notes that there are several
things that make medical technology different from cellular or computer technology.
“You don’t see the large global companies purchasing medical start-ups,” he says.
“Besides, if you look at PillCam or ReWalk
[a commercial bionic walking assistance system created by ReWalk Robotics; see our
previous blog, “Fascinating Captain!” Part 4],
they are brick and mortar in terms of development, not just software. They are real
products.”
Med Tech's Meteoric Rise
According to a 2012 study by Israel’s
ministry of industry, trade and labor, the country is the birthplace of 656 medical
device companies. Of these, 35 were publicly traded and 18 were owned by foreign
companies. Most medical device industry executives concur that Israel has been one
of the leading sources of new device technology within the past decade. The global
medical devices market was estimated at $322 billion in 2011, with Israel totaling
$1.8 billion. Despite its relatively small percentage overall, Israel is still the
leading country in terms of patents granted per capita in the medical devices field.
In total numbers worldwide, it ranks fourth, which is still a remarkable achievement,
considering Israel’s age, its size, and its contemporary history ― especially in
lieu of the continuous armed conflicts and overt threats to its very existence it
continues to face.
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| Photo credit: mixiii.com |
More food for thought: Fifteen
years ago, there was very little activity in Israel’s medical device field.
That is, it took Israel less than 20 years to become a global world leader in
the industry, so its expeditious rise is noteworthy as well. During the country’s
first-ever Biomed Conference — an annual meeting exhibiting new medical technologies
— the attendance was small. Today, the conference fills an entire exhibition hall,
with thousands of international participants coming to the “Land of Milk & Honey
and Med Tech.”
Consider these trending stories direct from
Israel:
Israeli Patents Up 20% in 2013, Mostly
In Pharmaceutical Field
August 27, 2014 – According to the
Israeli Ministry of Science, Technology and Space,
the number of patents registered by Israeli research institutions rose by 20% in
2012–2013, compared to 2011–2012. The field with the most registered patents was
in pharmaceuticals. Of the 1,438 patents that were registered between 2012–2013,
1,000 of them were completely new patents that have never before been
registered in other countries, according to the National Council for Research
and Development.
Teva Pharmaceuticals and Venus Remedies
Partner On Anti-Cancer Drug
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| Photo credit:timesofisrael.com |
August 27, 2014 – Teva Pharmaceuticals
and the India-based company, Venus Remedies,
entered into a collaborative agreement for the sale of an anti-cancer drug in the
Canadian market. According to the agreement, Venus Remedies will manufacture the
drug and will assist Teva in registering the drug in Canada. Venus will also use
its manufacturing capabilities to support Teva to enhance its business in the Canadian
market. Teva is headquartered in Petah Tikvah, Israel, and was founded in 1901.
Today it’s the largest generic drug manufacturer in the world and one of the 15
largest pharmaceutical companies worldwide.
Kite Pharma’s Shares Surge Following
Positive Cancer Drug Test Results
August 26, 2014 – Following positive
results in testing of Kite Pharma’s cancer
drug, the company’s shares surged 29% to $28.70 per share in after-hours trading.
The results of the study on 15 patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,
or blood cancer, were very positive, with eight patients in complete remission and
four others in partial remission. The company now plans to file and investigational
new drug application in order to launch the clinical trial of the drug KTE-C19 for
the treatment of blood cancers. The current trial was conducted by Kite Pharma and
funded in part by the National Cancer Institute of America. Kite Pharma was founded
in 2009 by Arie Belldegrun,
an Israeli-American oncologist, and it specializes in developing therapies that
use patients’ immune systems to treat cancer.
Israel is Fourth in the World for
Foreign Investment, OECD Report Finds
August 20, 2014 – According to the
latest Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) report, the Israeli economy is still one of the most attractive for foreign
direct investment (FDI). The report outlines that Israel is fourth place in the
world in terms of being a target for foreign investment in proportion to its GDP.
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| Photo credit:blog.ourcrowd.com |
In this article, I discussed some
of the reasons why Israel, in its nearly 67 years of existence, has today become
one of the leading medical technology and pharmaceutical countries in the world.
I mentioned some of its leading companies such as Given Imaging, ReWalk Robotics,
Teva Pharmaceuticals and others. I also shared some of the trending headlines and
stories pertaining to its dynamic med tech and pharmaceutical industries. In the next
installment, I’ll focus on several leading Israeli med tech companies
and their ground-breaking products. If you found this article useful, please feel
free to click “Like” as well as share and repost it. If you have any questions
or comments, as always, I’m eager to read them.
Rick Fromme combines
entrepreneurial enthusiasm with an insider's knowledge of the medical industry
to co-found MedMasters.com.
Both his drive and perspective helps provide health care professionals with a
superior mechanism with which to communicate, network and market their
strengths. Prior to founding MedMasters.com, Rick operated a highly successful
medical device distributorship. Other milestones in his 12-year career in the
medical industry include a key position at a medical
device start-up company that was later sold to the Ethicon
Endo division of Johnson & Johnson. You may also reach Rick
by connecting with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube.
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