Israel Business Update

Prepared by Dr. Mike Cohen Exclusively for Team M-EDG

The data collected in the clinical trials will be submitted to the regulatory authorities in Europe and the US for obtaining marketing clearance in these territories.

Jerusalem, Israel (AHN) - A new study by researchers from Hebrew University has revealed that stress-induced osteoporosis can be treated by using anti-depressant drugs. Osteoporosis is defined as a condition in which the bones weaken which in turn makes them more vulnerable to fractures. The condition is treatable but remains the most prevalent among post-menopausal women.

In the third quarter, 87 Israeli high-tech companies raised $381 million from venture investors. That was down about 6 percent from the $404 million raised in the previous quarter, but was 13 percent above the $336 million raised in the third quarter of 2005, according to the Israel Venture Capital Association.

A culture of survival drives growth

TEL AVIV, Israel--If engineers here seem unfazed by the high-pressure environment of today's technology industries, it is because many have been trained under life-and-death circumstances.

When the Arab-Israeli war erupted in 1973, the Israeli army asked a couple of professors at the Israel Institute of Technology to come up with a way to scramble the guidance systems of incoming Russian-made missiles. The mission, according to the institute, was accomplished in two days.

"In Israel you don't plan. You improvise," said Zak Dechovich, who worked in the government's cybercrime unit before becoming chief executive of SecureOL, a software security company. "The market has its own forces."

Biomed billionaire Alfred Mann has agreed to donate $100 million to the Israel Institute of Technology, or the Technion to set up the second of a planned series of twelve institutes at major research universities.