Ukraine Could Use Israeli Placenta-Based Emergency Treatment
Published by www.timesofisrael.com on April 20, 2025.
About two weeks after a Russian drone struck the cover built to contain radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Israeli biotech firm Pluri, a developer of placenta-based cell technology, landed an agreement to help Ukraine develop an emergency response to life-threatening radiation sickness in case of a radiological event.
The nearly three-year war between Russia and Ukraine has underscored the ever-rising threat of nuclear fallout amid repeated shelling of a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons.
Last month, Haifa-based Pluri (formerly Pluristem) entered into an exclusive collaboration with Ukrainian umbilical cord blood bank Hemafund to stockpile and distribute its placental expanded cell therapy, PLX-R18, as a potential treatment for life-threatening radiation sickness.
About two weeks after a Russian drone struck the cover built to contain radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Israeli biotech firm Pluri, a developer of placenta-based cell technology, landed an agreement to help Ukraine develop an emergency response to life-threatening radiation sickness in case of a radiological event.
The nearly three-year war between Russia and Ukraine has underscored the ever-rising threat of nuclear fallout amid repeated shelling of a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons.
Last month, Haifa-based Pluri (formerly Pluristem) entered into an exclusive collaboration with Ukrainian umbilical cord blood bank Hemafund to stockpile and distribute its placental expanded cell therapy, PLX-R18, as a potential treatment for life-threatening radiation sickness.
The condition, also known as hematopoietic acute radiation syndrome (H-ARS), occurs when a person is exposed to high levels of ionizing radiation, such as during a nuclear attack or accident. Destruction of the bone marrow and blood cells ensues, leading to severe anemia, infection and bleeding.
Death can occur in four to eight weeks if effective treatment is not received.
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Pluri was founded in 2001 by Technion alumnus Shai Meretzki, who made use of a stem cell patent developed during his Ph.D. studies in the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine under the supervision of Dr. Shosh Merchav, together with researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science.
