“I have the solution in my pocket,” said Yanay, CEO and president of Pluristem Therapeutics.
By SHARON UDASINUpdated: MAY 8, 2017 14:00PARTICIPANTS IN THE conference economic panel (from left): Yaky Yanay, CEO & president of Pluristem Therapeutics; Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel, member of EMET Prize Award Committee; Bini Zomer, Israel country manager, Noble Energy; moderator Dr. Efraim Chalamish; Nissim Zioni ,founder & CEO of Pitchon-Lev(photo credit: SIVAN FARAG)
Sitting on stage at The Jerusalem Post Annual Conference in New York on Sunday, innovator Yaky Yanay pulled a small glass vial out of his pocket – promising a solution to Iranian nuclear threats.“I have the solution in my pocket,” said Yanay, CEO and president of Pluristem Therapeutics.The Haifa-based company, which aims to create “the next generation of biological therapeutic products,” specializes in harnessing placental cells to treat a variety of diseases using a three-dimensional platform. For one such ailment that Pluristem is targeting, Acute Radiation Syndrome, the company is currently conducting dose evaluation studies with the US National Institutes of Health’s NIAID PLX-R18 cells – the same cells in Yanay’s glass vial.“If we can inject these cells after exposure to radiation, we will be able to keep the entire population alive,” he said.As Pluristem continues to delve into cell therapy research, the company is focusing on increasing longevity in the face of illnesses that today have no viable treatments. In addition, the company expressed hopes that the introduction of cell therapies could cut government healthcare costs significantly while improving care – offering accessible, safe and effective treatments.“The world is aging dramatically,” Yanay said. “We’ve doubled life expectancy in past 150 years and we need new technologies.”