Israel

Israel has no funding policy for stem cell research. The largest sum of money dedicated to stem cell research has been through the Ministry of Industry and Trade Cell Therapy consortium. The consortium (established in 2003) was created with the goal of developing enabling technologies for medical applications of stem cells and other cell-based therapies. It has an approximate budget of $15-20 million for a period of 3 years. (66% funding by the Government, and 34% by the industrial members). The consortium is part of the MIT Generic Pre-Competitive Technologies and R&D programme (Magnet), which encourages collaboration between Israeli research institutes and private companies for the development of pre-commercial technology. The consortium's administrative coordinator is confident that the consortium will be funded for an additional 3 years, at a similar level of funding, when the current contract ends in 2006.

The Government also supports stem cell research through occasional grants from the Ministry of Science (e.g., a Ministry of Science grant could be between $65,000-130,000 over a period of 3 years). The Government also supports stem cell research indirectly through the Israel Science Foundation which funds all basic research in Israel (The ISF receives its budget from the Government through the Council for Higher Education, but is independent of Government). In all of these cases, stem cell research has no dedicated stream of funding nor does it receive priority over other proposals. It has been reported that four of Israel's universities - Weizmann Institute for Science, The Technion, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University will each be receiving in the near future a donation from a private source of $1,000,000 each , for equipment and conferences in stem cell research. Most of the stem cell research in Israel is conducted at universities and medical research institutes, but start-ups are increasingly being established, in many cases by commercialising university know-how.

In the 1960's Leo Sachs of the Weizmann Institute was the first scientist to demonstrate the growth of stem cells in culture. Israeli researchers were key players in the landmark isolation of stem cells from human embryos in 1998 (Itskovitz-Eldor Technion, 2000 Reubinoff, the Hebrew University); together with US researchers were the first to publish detailed descriptions of the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells in culture (2000, Benvenisty, Hebrew University); and the first to report genetic modification of the cells (2001, Reubinoff, the Hebrew University). In 2002 Science Magazine named Israel as a world leader in stem cell research. Israeli researchers continue to be among the leaders in this field. Israel has strengths both in embroynic stem cells and in adult stem cell research. The areas of research include blood, bone, liver, pancreatic, heart and nerve cells.

The Cell Therapy consortium is commercial in its goal, but includes academic members. The consortium has 3 clusters: Adult stem cell cluster (the largest) - focused on isolation, propagation and upscaling, characterization and differentiation of stem cells from various blood sources; Tools Development cluster - focus on applied research and development of tools needed to bring cell therapy products to clinical use, and the Embryonic stem cell cluster - ensuring that new human embryonic cell lines and derivatives will be approvable for therapeutic use in humans.

According to the Cell Therapy consortium technical manager, Dr Iris Lewin, the Israeli consortium is the only case of which she is aware in which Academia and Industry are working together to create stem cell lines of clinical grade, with the intention of commercialising these lines.

Israel has about 10 companies dealing with stem-cell related research (four of which are part of the Cell Therapy consortium). Most of them were created by commercialising university know-how. Red Herring, the hi-tech business magazine, assesses that the 10 stem cell oriented companies have raised a total of $75 million from government, drug companies and venture capital. The areas of research include blood, bone, heart and nerve cells. Among these, Gamida Cell, a company that deals in cord blood expansion for implantation in cancer patients to restore bone marrow, is a world leader in its field. It recently received FDA orphan drug status. Teva Pharmaceuticals (the world's largest generic drug company) has entered a joint venture with Gamida cell, and will invest $25 million in developing and marketing Gamida Cell's product.

Israel was one of the first countries to adopt legislation imposing a general moratorium on genetic intervention for the purpose of human reproductive cloning (1998). The Israeli law also prohibited germ-line gene therapy "with the intention of creating a person". In March 2004, the Knesset (Israel's parliament) extended the previous 5-year moratorium, until March 2009. The law does not mention therapeutic cloning, which is therefore de facto, permitted. Currently no therapeutic cloning is taking place. The approach taken by the Israeli parliament stems from the understanding that science in this field is still in its infancy. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously assess the moral, legal, social and scientific connotations of the genetic interventions and their impact on human dignity. The Israeli law derives inspiration from Jewish teachings, which are orthodox in nature, but very liberal from a medical point of view. Healing and saving lives are of utmost priority in Judaic law. The justification to engage in stem cell research for therapeutic causes would derive from this tradition.

Despite the fact that the Israeli Government's view is to prohibit human cloning for reproductive reasons and to support research on therapeutic cloning (with appropriate constraints), Israel has voted with the US (or abstained) on this issue at the UN for wider political reasons. Apart from occasional articles in the press, and the debate at the Knesset Science and Technology Committee when the 5-year moratorium on reproductive cloning ended and came up again for discussion, stem cell research is not at topic which receives much public attention or engagement.

Israeli scientists have been at the forefront of stem cell research, with world leading scientists such as Prof Itskovitz Eldor, Prof Reubinoff and Prof Benvenisty. In March 2002 Science Magazine described Israel as one of the leading countries in stem cell research. However, Israel has no dedicated funding for stem cell research, and in that respect, it is at risk of losing its leading position.

Israel is also involved in various international stem cell fora. For example, Israel is part of the International Stem Cell Forum. The Israeli Cell Therapy consortium is also part of the emerging group of network of networks dealing with stem cell research.

The New-Jersey Based Coriell Institute for Medical Research, an international leader in human cell banking, has announced a collaborative programme with the Technion to advance the study of adult and embryonic sources stem cells. A sum of $1 million will be shared by both institutions. The State of Victoria (Australia) and Israel announced this year plans to establish a $6 million R&D fund which will capitalise on each other's strengths in areas such as stem cell research, cell therapy, synchrotron science and water treatment technologies.

Israeli researchers (Tel Aviv University) are among the 28 groups of researchers that form CellPROM (Cell Programming by Nanoscaled Devices www.cellprom.net) a 6th European Framework programme consortium. The objective of the consortium is to create a machine that will receive stem cells taken from an adult patient, and reprogramme them to become specific types of cells (heart, nerve, bone) which could be transplanted back to the patient.

The UK is perceived both as having a sound regulatory system and as a major player in stem cell research. According to Dr Lewin, the active role the UK has been taking in the field has moved it to a leading position.

Israeli researchers have ties with UK researchers and would be happy to see more engagement, but say they would need funding to support such engagements. As in many other areas, Israel suffers from a brain drain and Israeli researchers can be found around the world in the cutting edges of their field. The US has always been a preferred partner for research, due to language and funding opportunities. In November this year, the Israeli academic stem cell community will inaugurate the Israeli Stem Cell Society. Among other things, the society intends to also serve as a lobbying organisation for directing funding towards stem cell research.

Top

copyright: © | last updated 24 November 2005