Health security

US Tests Potential Israeli Cure for Victims of 'Nuclear Terrorism'

An arm of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is moving into advanced testing of an Israeli product that promises to treat victims of radiation exposure from industrial catastrophes or the specter of nuclear material in the hands of terrorists. The advanced testing stage comes as world leaders converge in Washington for the fourth Nuclear Security Summit.

Developed by Pluristem Therapeutics, based in Haifa, Israel, the firm’s placenta cell therapy product — dubbed PLX-R18 — has proven to be nearly 100 percent effective in mice. Over the coming year, NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAD), in collaboration with Pluristem and a US Food and Drug Administration-guided production process, will evaluate the optimal dose of cells to be injected in monkeys.