Personalized medicine, the aging process and their impact on the global economy

Shmuel (Molly) Aden, former president of Intel Israel and vice president of Intel Global at the Mixiii-Biomed conference: "Instead of a healthcare system, we cultivate a system of patients. 89% of medical treatments deal with providing a response, while only 2% deal with preventive treatments" * Hami Peres, co-founder and CEO of the Pitango venture capital fund, and the son of the late former president Shimon Peres, "As my father said, thanks to the technology that exists today, we can focus on education, research and entrepreneurship and less on wars"

At the opening event of the Mixiii Biomed conference that took place this week in Tel Aviv and deals with the subject of aging, Shmuel (Molly) Aden, former president of Intel Israel and vice president of Intel Global, participated and said that we are at the beginning of the Internet of Things (IOT) revolution in the health field, which includes monitoring systems, wearable equipment , collection, analysis and transmission of data. Thanks to the new developments and advanced technology, we will be able to save the economy about 70 billion dollars every year, by preventing re-hospitalization of patients.

"Technological progress will bring us to a situation where in the next decade we will see the fourth big data revolution, where computers will be a diagnostic factor - they will collect the data, analyze it and recommend the right treatment for that patient, with the next big step being the combination of a computer connected to the network with a human brain . As part of this revolution, the field of robotics will have great significance as an auxiliary force, which will be expressed in the help of robots in household work, to allow the elderly population to maintain a quality of life so that they can work on their own and support the older age groups - also, the robots will have to be available to everyone, no Only for the rich - accessible to the general public", Aden pointed out.

As part of the conference, a number of sessions were held that dealt with the issues of aging from different angles, including: the aging process and its impact on the global economy, neurodegenerative diseases (ALS, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, etc., age-dependent and in most cases the chance of getting them increases sharply as we get older) and solutions in the field of personalized medicine.

The field of personalized medicine advocates the provision of more targeted and effective treatments, and enables the adaptation of medical behavior to the patient's biological personal characteristics, and the development of treatments that are tailored to patients personally. Prof. Gal Markel, From the 'Shiva' Medical Center, Tel Hashomer He explained that if in the past medicine examined the type of cancer according to the affected area, today the discourse focuses more on the strategy of the tumor in order to provide the right treatment: "Until now, we examined cancer according to the types of organs or tissues affected but we must take into account the wide variety of all parameters of the disease and not just its location. Each cancer develops many mutations and responds to a certain type of immunotherapy. Now, we must examine the disease from a mechanistic point of view, to understand what is the strategy of the tumor to deal with the immune system in a given patient. Based on this understanding, we can personally adjust the immunotherapy. This will allow us to better monitor patients and more accurately choose the appropriate line of treatment. In fact, we strive to create a new language in looking at cancer."

Prof. Eran Aden, CEO MEMed: "About 700 people around the world died last year due to their body's resistance to antibiotics, and by 2050 it is expected that about 10 million people will die in the absence of proper treatment, more than from cancer and car accidents combined." Aden also added that today, due to diagnostic errors, antibiotics are overused and about 50% of patients do not need them, while 20% of patients who need them do not receive them. In the absence of an answer to this difficulty, a global expenditure of approximately 1000 billion dollars is expected by the year 2050. At MEMed, we are working to develop a product that will solve this predicament using a device that allows the diagnosis of a small blood sample and making informed decisions about the use of antibiotics in just a few minutes.

In the session that dealt with the effects of aging on the global economy and population, experts in the field discussed how health systems around the world are coping with the ongoing and expected increase in average life expectancy. Prof. Shlomo Noy, Director of the Rehabilitation and Geriatrics System at the Sheba Medical Center, Tel ha shomer, He said that while we have succeeded in extending people's lives, we have failed in reducing the percentage of morbidity in the elderly and as the relative number of the elderly in the population increases along with a lack of medical solutions, the world will not be able to run properly: the workforce will change in a negative way, so that many more elderly people will rely on fewer people young people who will be able to work. As life expectancy increases, the social gap between the rich and the poor will increase in correlation. "So far (in the last three decades) we have extended life with the help of "old tricks"; Education regarding smoking, drugs to lower blood pressure and blood lipids, etc., but these things only helped 30% of the population, while 70% are sick as a result of genetic problems, for example, which need to be treated with the help of more advanced tools, "new tricks" - algorithms that will help diagnose diseases , artificial intelligence", Noy added that there are already pilots in Europe of semi-closed communities where robots work that do a variety of activities for the elderly and sick, whose hands are unable to pay for human helpers.

Ziv Ofek, founder and CEO of Merkaz Permanent for digital innovation in the Negev He pointed out that in Israel many are working to promote this issue: "Thanks to a unique collaboration with Ben-Gurion University under the leadership of Prof. Rivka Carmi, we succeeded in establishing a first-of-its-kind center that, among other things, provides a variety of inventions and innovations for the benefit of man in general and the aging population in particular. For these needs, we established the Digital Health aging lab, which helps with various hardships such as loneliness, poverty, falls at home and transportation. Thus, we developed a platform called Aging in place by uniper to maintain contact with the elderly without effort - using the smart devices available at home, while the university itself works vigorously to optimize the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases."

In a unique session that dealt with providing answers and early detection of neurodegenerative diseases (which cause cognitive deterioration and loss of function of various cells in the brain - and tend to erupt at late ages, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, etc. In the session, the various researchers discussed solutions that are currently in the development stages or can already be purchased in the markets for the benefit of those suffering from diseases These as well as for predicting these diseases before they are injured. Prof. Michal Barry, Tel Hashomer: Medical information for early diagnosis of degenerative brain diseases: using equipment and a Superpill (a unique pill) that will convey information about the patient's health condition - to the family, to the patient himself, to the treating doctors so that they can point out the problem as quickly as possible. The pill will travel through the body and affect areas of the brain that are responsible for the way of life, lifestyle, motivation to exercise, weight loss, smoking cessation and reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Any information from the pills themselves that will be taken, from the apps and the wearable devices - will be thrown into the cloud and merged into clinical information bundles, and will be used by us to learn more about personalized human health, and disease risks will be significantly reduced once all the information is consolidated.

Prof. Shahar Arzi, Hadassah Hospital: It is very important for early diagnosis among potential patients, so that we can detect neurodegenerative diseases that are in an early stage and thus provide treatment that will delay the onset of the disease. Thus, at Hadassah we developed a clinical test that helps detect the early signs of Alzheimer's disease. The test, which was invented by Prof. Shahar Arazi and is in further development at the Clara Mind company, is easy and short, personalized and accessible to the general population via the internet and mobile phone.

conference MIXiii-BIOMED 2017, One of the leading events in the world in the field of biomed and the largest event of the Israeli life sciences industry, was held for the 16th year (between May 23 - 25, 2017, in Tel Aviv). This year the conference, which has established itself over the years as the main meeting place for health professionals from Israel and many from around the world, focused on the subject of aging and in which they deal with the most burning issues in the field: longevity alongside quality of life; accuracy in diagnosis and medicine; Robotics in aging; age-related diseases; digital health; from the Academy of Industry in the context of puberty and age-related issues. Alongside the conference, there is an exhibition of companies from the industry and a unique complex where Israeli start-up companies present the latest and most innovative developments in the life sciences industry.

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