Sometime in mid-January, the staff at Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv started to realize that they were on to something. A drug developed by Dr. Nadir Arber, head of the hospital’s Integrated Center for Cancer Prevention, really did seem to have a dramatic effect on patients most severely impacted by the coronavirus. It actually cured them, and quickly too.
One of the people now recovering as a result of the experimental drug is a woman from Tel Aviv. She told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that she received the first coronavirus vaccine shot in December, but shortly after she started to feel ill. According to her, she was infected by her husband, who was himself infected during an open-air prayer service. Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she was admitted to Ichilov. She already suffered from asthma, so by the time she was moved to the intensive care unit, she was already in critical condition. The hospital then offered her family a chance to participate in a study involving an experimental drug, administered by an inhaler, identical to the one used by asthma patients. She said that shorly after she started feeling much better and was sent home three weeks later. While she still requires oxygen, the speed of her overall recovery has been remarkable.
On Feb. 4, Ichilov released the results of its study. They found that the new drug had cured 96% of all those who had received it during the first, experimental stage, involving 30 coronavirus patients, most of them critically ill. Of these, 29 recovered from the virus in 3-5 days.
The drug, known as EXO-CD24, is based on a protein used in cancer research. This protein affects the immune system, which attacks itself in the second stage of the COVID-19 infection, causing severe respiratory problems. The CD24 protein is introduced to the body through the inhalation of exosomes — stable nanovesicles that transport bioactive molecules to target cells — which release it into the lungs. After being inhaled for a few minutes, the protein calms the immune system and causes it to stop attacking itself. This provides considerable relief to the patient.
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