News Briefs

GE Healthcare announced it has invested $13.75 million in InSightec Ltd., in the form of a convertible loan. GE Healthcare last invested in Insightec in 2008. The company develops MR guided focused ultrasound devices for the treatment of uterine fibroids, tumors, and neurological disorders. It noted that it would use the proceeds to finance its development plan for 2012 in R&D, sales and marketing and customer support. InSightec was founded in 1999 and owned by Elbit Imaging, Elbit Medical Technologies, General Electric, MediTech Advisors, LLC and employees. It is headquartered in Haifa, Israel with US offices in Dallas. View and Share

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Mekorot, Israel’s national water company, will open its first U.S. office in Akron, Ohio. According to city officials, the company has signed a memorandum of understanding to bring its WaTech companies to the city. Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Mekorot specializes in water reclamation, desalination, water engineering, water safety and water quality. The agreement calls initially for exchanging information, fostering technology transfer and introducing innovative technologies to reduce costs and improve service. The company and Akron will then collaborate on business development initiatives, such as commercialization of water and energy-related technology to create economic growth and jobs. View and share

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Mazor Robotics, an Israeli company that develops surgical robots and complementary products for spine surgery, announced that the Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, California, purchased its Renaissance system. Renaissance, a surgical guidance system that is designed to enable surgeons to conduct spine surgeries in an accurate and secure manner, was launched in 2011. According to the company, its Robotics systems have been used in the placement of over 15,000 implants in the USA and Europe. View and share

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Brainsway announced it has received the Frost & Sullivan 2012 Global New Product Innovation Award in neuro-psychiatric Devices for its Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) system. Frost & Sullivan is a Growth Partnership company that provides its clients researches, models and growth strategies. Brainsway, headquartered in Jerusalem, Israel, is developing noninvasive medical devices for the treatment of neurological and psychopathological disorders, such as addiction, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease and post-traumatic stress disorder. Their initial focus is the treatment of major depression. View and share

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HIRO Media, an Israeli video ad management and serving platform for content owners, publishers and media agencies, announced it has signed a deal to become Viewster’s video ad serving and management partner. Viewster, a video-on-demand service operating in 100+ countries and eight languages, confirmed the recent partnership. The company mentioned that by integrating HIRO Media’s technology and ad network, Viewster will monetize premium content across a network of publishers and IP platforms. View and share

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Can-Fite BioPharma obtained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Orphan Drug Status for CF102 – a drug for primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma.) The drug was found to be safe in preclinical and Phase I clinical trials. Orphan Drug Status is granted for drugs being developed for the treatment of diseases that affect a small number of people. The status provides incentives and preferences for the research, production and marketing of these drugs, including seven years marketing exclusivity from the date of approval, tax breaks, and exemptions on FDA fees. View and share

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Israeli startup 6Scan launched a WordPress plugin that provides information security for bloggers and administrators of small websites on the WordPress platform. The company was founded in 2011, aiming to allow small websites to enjoy the same security options that were available only for larger sites. Their solution consists of the 6Scan Patrol which scans the website regularly and searches for security breaches, and the 6Scan Bodyguard which fixes the detected problems. View and share

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Mylan Inc. announced yesterday that it plans to launch a generic version of Copaxone, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. intravenous treatment for multiple sclerosis, in the second half of 2013. Mylan added that patent litigation and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of its drug are pending. In addition, the firm announced yesterday that it has entered into a facility agreement with a syndicate of banks to securitize up to $300 million of U.S. accounts receivable. The facility is committed and has a maturity of three years. View and share

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BioLineRx, a biopharmaceutical development company, announced the publication of pre-clinical results demonstrating that BL-7010, an orally available treatment for celiac disease, reduces gluten toxicity (the negative effect of gluten on the patient’s body). The research was published in the February edition of Gastroenterology. The findings indicate that BL-7010 (previously called P(HEMA-co-SS)) reduces digestion of wheat gluten, thereby decreasing its toxicity. View and share

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Radvision, Israeli solution provider for unified visual communications, announced that Quanta Computer, one of the world’s largest manufacturers for notebook computers, has selected it as the technology provider for its video communications product line. Quanta plans to integrate Radvision’s unified-communications applications into its mobile devices, including notebooks and tablets, to improve its video conferencing services. Radvision was founded in 1992 and provides video conferencing technologies over IP and wireless networks. View and Share

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Gilat Satellite Networks, an Israeli provider of satellite networking technology, solutions and services, announced it was selected by JSC NURSAT, one of Kazakhstan’s national satellite service providers, to deploy a broadband satellite IP network based on its Sky Edge II System. The system will provide JSC NURSAT with an end-to-end solution for IP-connectivity and enable broadband communication services designed for advanced corporate users. Gilat was founded in 1987 and is headquartered Petah Tikva, Israel. View and share

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Miya company has been awarded a contract by the Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC) in the Bahamas to maximize the efficiency of its water systems. The contract value is estimated at $83 million, comprising $59 million in fixed fees and the balance in performance fees. The ten-year project will be carried out in New Providence, the most populated island in the Bahamas. It focuses on improving local water distribution utilities in order to reduce leakage of drinking water. Miya, a global provider of comprehensive urban water efficiency solutions, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arison Investments, founded by the Israeli businesswoman and Shari Arison. View and share

 

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Israeli startup Traffix Systems will be sold to the American company F5 for $130 million. Traffix, founded in 2005, supports 4G telecommunications service providers. The Traffix Signaling Delivery Controller enables carriers to maximize network performance with innovative routing, load balancing and gateways solutions based on the IP-based industry standard protocol for signaling, known as Diameter. Since its foundation, Traffix secured investments of $12 million. View and share

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Israeli company Applicasa has launched its “Start-App” program to support startup companies, by offering them a server side setup. Developers can acquire Applicasa‘s full server solution, which includes simple database creation, custom queries, beta version deployment and push notifications. The service is free of charge until an app reaches 100,000 downloads – after which the developer can transition to one of Applicasa’s paid plans, starting from $199 a month. Applicasa currently supports iOS and has plans to launch an Android solution as well. View and share

 

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Cloud data security company Porticor has launched its data encryption service, to protect data in public, private and hybrid cloud environments. The Israel-based company’s solution features a split-key encryption method across the provider’s cloud data protection system. The solution is applicable for different storage types, including virtual disks, databases, distributed storage and file systems. Porticor was founded in 2010 and plans to expand to the U.S. in 2012. The company is venture backed, with Glilot Capital leading its recent first round of funding. View and share

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