Homegrown Weapon: Israeli Doctors  Successfully Use Patients' Own Cells to Annihilate Aggressive Blood Cancer

Israeli doctors at Rabin Medical Center’s Davidoff Cancer Center in Petach Tikvah have achieved a major scientific and technological milestone by successfully deploying Israel’s first fully "homegrown" CAR-T therapy to treat multiple myeloma, an aggressive form of blood cancer that has become resistant to standard treatments.

The initial cohort of three severely ill patients received the genetically engineered cellular therapy earlier in November. All three patients underwent the procedure without unexpected complications and were discharged as planned, marking a critical proof-of-concept for the new, entirely in-house platform.

Manufacturing the Bespoke Anti-Cancer Weapon

This groundbreaking therapy, which weaponizes a patient’s own immune system, is produced entirely within the hospital at the Samueli Integrative Cancer Pioneering Institute, an advanced manufacturing hub embedded within the Davidoff Center.

The process is meticulously handled under one roof:

This innovative, end-to-end local production allows the hospital to transform the patient’s own T-cells into a highly specialized anti-cancer weapon, circumventing the need to import ultra-expensive cell products from abroad. This is expected to significantly reduce costs and shorten the life-saving timeline for local patients.

Treating Aggressive Myeloma

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow, affecting approximately 550 Israelis every year. Even with modern drug regimens, the disease often becomes drug-resistant, leaving many patients with exhausted treatment options.

CAR-T immunotherapy has already revolutionized the outlook for several blood cancers globally. At Rabin Medical Center, the new treatment is deeply integrated into the Hemato-Oncology Division, led by Prof. Pia Raanani. The CAR-T program is directed by Prof. Michal Besser, with the clinical trial led by Prof. Moshe Yeshurun, alongside myeloma specialist Dr. Iuliana Vaxman and Prof. Salomon Stemmer. Physicians report that the early responses in the first patients, who had been running out of options, are highly encouraging.

Closing a Scientific Circle

This breakthrough holds deep significance for Israeli science. The original CAR-T technology was first conceived by Israeli immunologist Prof. Zelig Eshhar at the Weizmann Institute. Israel has since become a global center for CAR-T research.

Rabin’s new "blue-and-white" program pushes this legacy forward by proving that an Israeli hospital can independently develop, manufacture, and deliver this next generation of cell therapies.

Davidoff Center director Prof. Gal Markel stated the long-term goal extends beyond multiple myeloma. The ambition is to build a flexible manufacturing platform that can be adapted to target solid tumors such as lung and liver cancer, and eventually certain autoimmune diseases, all produced and delivered within the same institutional framework. This advance marks another front where local science is converting cutting-edge ideas into tangible survival chances for seriously ill patients.