10 Serious COVID Patients Given Israeli Drug, Leave Hospital in One Day

The data showed a 40% decrease in lung inflammation from treatment – from 55% to 15%, as seen in chest X-rays * Rambam Health Care Campus doctor: ‘Results extremely impressive’

An Israeli biotechnology company has claimed a 100% success rate in the first 10 patients treated with its drug as part of an early-stage clinical trial at Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa.

The company, Bonus BioGroup, presented the preliminary findings of its Phase I/II trial to peers at the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy conference in New Orleans last week and shared the results in a statement released to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

The Jerusalem Post, which first wrote about the treatment in May 2020, reviewed the PowerPoint presented at the conference and the five-page letter sent to the exchange. The company’s CEO and director, Dr. Shai Meretzki, told the Post that the team is now working on publishing its results in a peer-reviewed journal.

Bonus’s MesenCure, which consists of activated Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs) that are isolated from the adipose tissue of healthy donors, was found to reduce inflammation and alleviate respiratory and other symptoms in patients suffering from life-threatening respiratory distress brought on by COVID-19.

“So far, the results of the treatment with the drug MesenCure are extremely impressive and an improvement over the results of other treatments,” said Dr. Shadi Hamoud, principal investigator in the clinical trial and deputy director of the Department of Internal Medicine E at Rambam.

He said the results were so promising that the hospital was already examining use of the treatment for other indications.

Bonus reported on 10 COVID patients between the ages of 45 to 75, all with severe symptoms. Ninety percent of them also had comorbidities.

The data showed a 40% decrease in lung inflammation from treatment – from 55% to 15%, as seen in chest X-rays, in the first five days after treatment. One month later, lung inflammation reached 1%.

Additionally, patients showed significantly improved respiratory function, with blood oxygen saturation increasing to 95% and lung functioning returning to almost entirely normal levels after only one month.

Meretzki shared a laboratory image of a healthy lung, a sick lung and lung treated with MesenCure. “The treated lung looks almost identical to the normal, healthy lung – complete healing, complete prevention of damage to the lung,” Meretzki said.

Most strikingly, patients were discharged from the hospital after a median duration of only one day following the treatment.

And there were no adverse effects associated with MesenCure, the company reported.

Meretzki said the trial followed patients for 30 days post administration of the treatment. All but one had survived. The patient who died did not pass away from COVID-19 but a severe preexisting condition.

Many COVID-19 patients die because of an increase in the production of inflammatory molecules called cytokine, rather than the virus itself, Meretzki explained. When the immune system secretes too many cytokines, a so-called “cytokine storm” can erupt. Such an excessive immune response ravages healthy lung tissue, leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome or failure, and eventually death.

Bonus was founded in 2008. It has been working with MSCs for a decade from its Haifa headquarters, where it developed its core product, a tissue-engineered bone graft that is also based on MSCs.

Meretzki said that MSCs are cells that are “found in every one of us; they are responsible for damage control and a variety of day-to-day activities.”

When the coronavirus outbreak started in early 2020, Bonus started investigating the potential of MSCs to possibly reduce the cytokine storm in COVID-19 patients.

The Phase II trial is slated to continue at Rambam and include another 50 patients. However, because of the low-level of infection in Israel, Bonus has applied for approval to carry out the trial in Europe as well, Meretzki said.

He told the Post that the Phase II trial should be completed quickly once the remaining patients are fully enrolled.

One would think this would be heralded as wonderful yet the naysayers apparently want it to be free, never miss a chance to attack the opposite side and continually throw insane water on a true breakthrough that has ramification for multiple disease states.

Seems like we have our very own free republic commies especially with the expensive statement. Surely the next comment is that ivermectin is cheap. However it is not efficacious in disease. Particularly advanced disease. This is another very promising breakthrough

I believed since the beginning we are about to see a golden age of targeted therapeutic and vaccination technology. It will be a golden age of virology if you will. It will be the one good thing to come out of this.

Fascinating stuff. Thanks for posting. I added to my list of COVID treatments.

From the Bonus web description:

The therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in the treatment of COVID-19 respiratory symptoms is attributed to the ability of MSCs to attenuate the hyper-inflammatory response – the cytokine storm triggered by the virus and the ensuing life-threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). MSC-mediated attenuation of the cytokine storm is achieved by modulating the proliferation and activation of immune cells through the secretion of immunosuppressive factors
MSCs are immune-evasive and intravenously administered. Allogeneic MSCs were demonstrated to be safe and do not elicit an immune response. Pre-clinical studies have demonstrated that following intravenous administration, the MSCs predominantly accumulate in the injured lung. By producing keratinocyte, endothelial, and hepatocyte growth factors, MSCs promote the regeneration of lung epithelial cells, prevent the apoptosis of endothelial cells, and contribute to the repair of the alveolar-epithelial barrier damaged by the cytokine storm.
In addition, systemically administered MSCs can also help other organs that are infected by the virus, such as the heart, liver, kidney and digestive organs, and possibly save patients from acute myocardial injury, arrhythmia, acute kidney injury, shock, and death from multiple organ failure
Numerous pre-clinical animal studies have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of intravenous administered MSCs in the treatment of acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress.

I have not heard of mesenchymal stromal cells previously. This paper has a good description:

Mesenchymal stromal cells by Maria Ester Bernardo, Franco Locatelli, and Willem E Fibbe, 2009.
ABSTRACT
Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are multipotent cells that can be isolated from several human tissues and expanded ex vivo for clinical use. MSCs are identified by their adherent properties, immunephenotype, and differentiation potential. MSCs display immunological properties that have been demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo, in animal models and in humans, although the exact mechanisms underlying these effects remain largely unknown. MSCs preferentially home to damaged tissue and secrete paracrine factors with anti-inflammatory properties. The immunomodulatory and reparative and anti-inflammatory properties of MSCs have been tested in a variety of animal models and have been applied in specific clinical settings. Potential clinical applications of MSCs include prevention and treatment of therapy-resistant acute graft-versus-host disease, prevention and treatment of rejection after either hematopoieitc stem cell and solid organ transplantation, tissue repair, and treatment of inborn errors and autoimmune diseases.
This review focuses on recent advances that have broadened our understanding of the biological and functional properties of MSCs, which are increasingly attracting the attention of researchers involved in the optimization of approaches for reparative and regenerative cell therapy, as well as in the perspective of modulating immune response against alloantigens or, even, autoantigens.

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