Doctors at Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikvah have begun treating blood cancer patients with Israel’s first fully “homegrown” CAR-T therapy, marking what the hospital calls a major medical breakthrough.
The treatment was developed and manufactured at the Samueli Integrative Cancer Pioneering Institute, part of the Davidoff Cancer Center, which recently completed in-house production of genetically engineered CAR-T cells for multiple myeloma patients whose disease has stopped responding to standard therapies.
The first three patients received the therapy with no unusual complications and were discharged as planned, according to a press release issued on Wednesday.
CAR-T therapy is considered one of the most advanced tools in modern oncology. Physicians extract a patient’s T-cells and genetically engineer them to recognize and kill cancer cells. At Davidoff, scientists are using retroviral vector technology developed at the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin to equip the cells with cancer-targeting receptors before returning them to the body.
Israel diagnoses roughly 550 new cases of multiple myeloma each year. While treatment options have expanded in recent years, a significant number of patients eventually face drug resistance. Hospital experts say the new therapy offers realistic hope for those with the toughest prognoses.
The Samueli Institute, established in 2023 and led by Avner Paz-Tsuk, operates under international standards for advanced therapy manufacturing. The initiative is integrated with the Hemato-Oncology Division directed by Prof. Pia Raanani.
The CAR-T program is headed by Prof. Michal Besser, while the clinical study is led by Prof. Moshe Yeshurun in collaboration with myeloma specialist Dr. Iuliana Vaxman and Prof. Salomon Stemmer, deputy head of the Davidoff Center.
“The early results show a very positive response,” Vaxman said, calling the development “significant news” for patients with limited options.
Davidoff Center director Prof. Gal Markel said the achievement demonstrates Israel’s capacity to develop and deliver diverse advanced cancer therapies under one roof.
He added that researchers expect to expand the technology to treat solid tumors, including lung and liver cancers, and ultimately autoimmune diseases as well.
