Israel has become one of the international leaders in bio-technology and Jerusalem is the place where at least half of the research in Israel is taking place.
To keep up with the rapidly expanding field, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hadassah Medical Organization signed an agreement today (Sunday) to establish a biotechnology park near Hadassah Hospital in Beit Hakerem. Under the agreement, biotechnology R&D companies and venture capital funds will jointly set up incubators for biotechnology and biomedical ventures.
Hebrew University Vice President and Director General Moshe Vigdor told Israel21c.org that an 8,000-sqare-meter building is to be built within two years with aid from the Investment Promotion Center. He added that a Hebrew University study found that Jerusalem has the largest and broadest infrastructure for biotechnology and that over 50% of the research in Israel on biotechnology is carried out in Jerusalem.
A case in point is the Israeli company Gamida-Cell, which is claiming to be on track to produce the first commercial blood stem-cell product, according to a report in The Independent. At a conference last week held in Edinburgh, Scotland for biotechnology investors Gamida said it has unique patented technology, a scientific board compromised of eminent medical professors, and collaboration from hospitals on an international basis. They predicted they would have an approved product by 2006.
The worldwide market for such products has been independently estimated to be worth $30 billion. Gamida-Cell's product, StemEx, is based on stem-cell therapy expansion technology, which supplies the body with enough stem cells to stimulate the regeneration of bone marrow or the tissue of a particular organ.
What is unique about StemEx is its ability to expand stem cell cultures up to 1,000-fold, increasing the chances of a graft in adults and larger children. The strength of StemEx's technology is that it not only deals with umbilical cells but also blood cells, and produces 80 times more stem cells than other available methods. In February, the company won an award from The American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation for its scientific research.
To keep up with the rapidly expanding field, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hadassah Medical Organization signed an agreement today (Sunday) to establish a biotechnology park near Hadassah Hospital in Beit Hakerem. Under the agreement, biotechnology R&D companies and venture capital funds will jointly set up incubators for biotechnology and biomedical ventures.
Hebrew University Vice President and Director General Moshe Vigdor told Israel21c.org that an 8,000-sqare-meter building is to be built within two years with aid from the Investment Promotion Center. He added that a Hebrew University study found that Jerusalem has the largest and broadest infrastructure for biotechnology and that over 50% of the research in Israel on biotechnology is carried out in Jerusalem.
A case in point is the Israeli company Gamida-Cell, which is claiming to be on track to produce the first commercial blood stem-cell product, according to a report in The Independent. At a conference last week held in Edinburgh, Scotland for biotechnology investors Gamida said it has unique patented technology, a scientific board compromised of eminent medical professors, and collaboration from hospitals on an international basis. They predicted they would have an approved product by 2006.
The worldwide market for such products has been independently estimated to be worth $30 billion. Gamida-Cell's product, StemEx, is based on stem-cell therapy expansion technology, which supplies the body with enough stem cells to stimulate the regeneration of bone marrow or the tissue of a particular organ.
What is unique about StemEx is its ability to expand stem cell cultures up to 1,000-fold, increasing the chances of a graft in adults and larger children. The strength of StemEx's technology is that it not only deals with umbilical cells but also blood cells, and produces 80 times more stem cells than other available methods. In February, the company won an award from The American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation for its scientific research.