News Briefs

BG Negev Technologies and Applications, the technology transfer company of Ben Gurion University of the Negev, has raised $1 million from a US private equity fund, to develop therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. The funding will support a study conducted by the university’s Department of Immunology and Microbiology, which might be useful for prolonging lifespans for patients with diseases such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). View and share

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Israeli company Gamida Cell will raise $10 million in an internal round from its shareholders, including an owners’ loan of $4 million. Elbit Medical Technologies, which owns 31.6% of Gamida Cell, will invest $3 million in the round. Gamida Cell develops stem cell therapy products for transplantation and regenerative medicine. It is soon to start a Phase II/III clinical trial of its blood cancer treatment and is due to announce the results later this year. View and share

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Procognia (Israel) signed a binding three-year letter of intent with Cytech – a Hong-Kong based distributor of life sciences products – for the exclusive distribution of Procognia’s blood sugar analysis kits in China and Taiwan. According to the deal, Procognia will receive a percentage of sales and revenue from the analysis services. The Glycoscope kit is designed for pharmaceutical companies and research laboratories to identify and monitor the structure of sugars in proteins during the development and production of biological drugs and vaccines, as well as stem cell research. View and share

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Teva has launched a generic version of Prometrium capsules for the treatment of secondary amenorrhea, a cessation in menstrual periods for more than six months. The illness is due to a decrease in the hormone progesterone. The drug is also given to menopausal women together with estrogen-containing medications.

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Israeli Tech-assistance app Soluto will be the first non-US app to be released on the Windows 8 Store. Microsoft revealed its Windows 8 Beta version at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The App store includes 70 applications. Soluto’s platform enables users without any formal technical background to receive remote technical support from friends and family. View and share

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Kardan N.V., a water infrastructure subsidiary of Israeli Tahal Consulting Engineers, announced that it has signed an agreement with the National Water Company of Ghana for a project to design, construct and upgrade the drinking water systems in three regions of Ghana. The project’s estimated revenues are $97.5 million. It is the follow-up to an existing project also executed by Tahal in the same area. According to the agreement, the project is anticipated to take three years from commencement. View and share

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Ginger Software, the developer of contextual grammar and spell-checking tools, announced that it has raised $6.3 million in a financing round led by Israeli investment firm, Vaizra Ventures. The Israeli and Massachusetts-based company, founded in 2007, raised $15 million to date from investors. Its products target people who learn English as a second language and people suffering from dyslexia – and provide its users with an online service that automatically corrects their text as they type. View and Share

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Israeli Finance Ministry announced that Israel will sell China water technology valued at $300 million for use in the agriculture sector. According to the statement the deal was signed by both countries’ finance ministers in Beijing. No information was given regarding the technologies and companies involved in the deal. The statement also noted that officials from both countries are discussing possible natural gas exports by Israel to China. View and share

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Israeli biotechnology company Thrombotech has obtained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a Phase IIa clinical trial of its treatment for ischemic stroke by destroying blood clots. The trial will be conducted in the US and will test the safety of the drug, THR-18. The clinical trial was initiated at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem and Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv. The company is now waiting to receive regulatory permits for trials in Europe and India. View and Share

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Israeli companies exported in 2010 $9.5 billion in technological services, such as R&D, and licensing agreements on patents and know-how. According to a report published by the National Council for R&D at the Ministry of Science and Technology, this is a 3.4% drop from 2009, but a 17% rise compared with 2007. The same year, in 2010, there were only $2.5 billion worth of imports of these services, resulting in a $7 billion surplus. View and share

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Israeli venture capital funds raised $796 million in 2011, IVC Research Center KPMG Israel Somekh Chaikin reported, after raising nothing in 2010, and just $256 million in 2009, which was 76% less than in 2008.

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Vaultive, a provider of cloud data encryption solutions that allows companies to leverage the benefits of cloud computing while keeping their data secured, announced it has completed a $10-million funding round led by .406 Ventures, New Science Ventures and Harmony Partners. The company is currently in beta for its first product, Vaultive for Hosted Exchange, a patent-pending enterprise-class encryption solution designed to meet the specific business challenges and technological requirements of Hosted Exchange users. View and Share

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Israeli company Amiad Water Systems announced it has been awarded two projects in Australia, for a sum of $10 million. The larger of the projects is for Perth’s Southern SeaWater Desalination Plant, for which Amiad will provide automatic self-cleaning screen filter technology for seawater reverse osmosis membrane protection. The second is for Origin Energy, one of Australia’s leading integrated energy companies, for the supply and commissioning of the company’s technology. Amiad, active since 1962, has headquarters Israel and in California, USA. View and share

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Global healthcare investment firm OrbiMed Advisors invested $4.3 million in Otic Pharma, an Israeli company that develops foam-based treatments for ear diseases. “Foam-Otic”, according to the company, is considered to be a more efficient drug than ear drops, with lower and less frequent doses. Otic Pharma is about to complete a clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of its foam treatment. The company is also developing veterinary treatments for pets. The financing will enable it to begin a trial for its veterinary product. View and share

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Israel reached second place in the first Global Cleantech Innovation Index, published by Cleantech Group and WWF. The report, called “Coming Clean: The Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2012,” ranked Denmark first. Israel came second, followed by Sweden, Finland, the US and Germany – out of 38 countries that were evaluated. The evaluation was based on 15 indicators related to the creation and commercialization of cleantech startups, generating an index measuring each one’s potential, relative to their economic size, to produce entrepreneurial cleantech startups and commercialize clean technology innovations over the next 10 years. View and Share

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