You must be aware about the fact that there is a huge war going on between Israel and Gaza right now and this all started when the Hamas terrorists entered Israel all of a sudden on October 7 in a widespread attack and killed more than a 1000 Israeli citizens. After this, it is known that Israel has been relentless and are not only taking revenge but also determined to destroy Hamas from the face of the earth. Why we are talking about this is because while this was going on, an Israeli biotech startup named Mana.bio decided to launch its AI-fueled programmable drug therapy despite the attacks.
In a statement, Mana.bio’s CEO said that “Mana.bio’s integrated experimental and machine learning platform enables the discovery of smarter, faster, more precise delivery formulations to unlock the field of nucleic acid-based and genetic medicines”. Yogev Debbi said that “The solution involves RNA-based therapies, which have the potential to treat infectious diseases, cancers and single genetic disorders, but as Debbi explained, RNA molecules are highly volatile. “RNA molecules can’t be administered just like that to the human cells, as they fall apart. They have to be protected by a special package (or carrier) until they are inserted into the cells where they can operate”. He added that Mano creates this special package.
Giving some context on how difficult this launch was for them, he recalled that “He was also set to travel to San Diego for the first of two conferences to deliver papers on his company’s approach to drug discovery when the attack happened”. He also said that “We started thinking what’s going to be the impact, and should we do it or not”. “Just to give the context, we’re all devastated in Israel. This is the darkest time at least that I can remember [in my lifetime]”. Debbi added “It’s really, really hard, and even with all the sadness and all the bad news that you hear all day long, we as a company, we have the privilege and also the commitment to really continue pushing forward and continue business as usual,”
