Now, a new drug developed at Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center is providing hope of a better, cheaper, treatment. While still in its early stages, and pending a crucial third trial, Dr. Nadir Arber believes that he’s developed a drug that will turn even the most severe cases of SARS-COV-2 infection into manageable medical events—without affecting the body’s natural ability to protect itself.

Arber’s remedy, EXO-CD24, one of the most promising Israeli therapeutics under review, is a “precision medication” trained directly at the cytokine storms that so often prove deadly for the 5 to 7 percent of COVID-19 patients whose condition worsens precipitously.

Arber has been studying the CD24 molecule for 25 years, seeking new therapies for cancer. Why CD24? Because it is “an important negative regulator of the immune system,” he told The Daily Beast, “it exists naturally in the human body—plus, here in Israel we had to think outside the box. American scientists were already investigating all the better known elements.”