Greece expresses interest in trialing Israeli ‘miracle drug’ against coronavirus

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Jerusalem on Monday.

During the press conference following the meeting, Netanyahu took a vial out of his pocket, which contained medicine against COVID-19. He labelled it a "miracle drug."

It is an inhaled preparation, which has been tested on patients in Israel and, according to Netanyahu, has spectacular results.

“If you’re infected by corona and are seriously ill and have a lung problem, take this, inhale it, and you come out feeling good," he added.

Mitsotakis expressed Greece’s willingness to participate in clinical trials.

“Assuming that we can overcome the regulatory hurdles, Greece would be happy to participate in clinical trials,” he said, adding “We would all be very relieved if we could find a drug that could cure the disease itself.”

29 out of 30 moderate-to-severe COVID-19 patients who were administered the EXO-CD24 treatment by Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) as part of a Phase I trial, recovered from the disease and were released within three to five days.

The drug, is an innovative compound based on enriched CD24 exosomes, and is inhaled directly into the lungs to eradicate the cytokine storm that results from the COVID-19 virus.

“Green passport” for tourism- Israel and Greece

Mitsotakis and Netanyahu also discussed the "green passport."

“We just discussed a green passport arrangement where Israelis, when we lift the restraints on flights, we will be to go to Greece without any limitations, no self-isolations, nothing,” said Netanyahu.

The agreement concerns first of all the institutional cooperation between the two countries, the exchange of information and know-how, tourism investments, tourism promotion and tourism innovation and digitization.

“Once you lift your travel restrictions, we will be able to let Israeli tourists visit Greece without any additional restrictions," Mitsotakis said.

He also referred to the digital vaccination certificate within the European Union he has been advocating.

“I anticipate Israel being the first country to be able to offer such a certificate for travel to Greece, because you have been able to vaccinate a larger portion of the population and are moving at a faster pace,” the Greek PM continued.