Knesset passes EpiPen Law

A pharmaceutical company has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to market their new drug under a name derived from the Torah.

In a press release, Steba Biotech claimed that this is the first time the FDA has approved a name for a drug based on “its biblical context” and not on its active ingredients.

The drug, Tookad, treats prostate cancer as part of a laser-based treatment meant to be minimally invasive. It has received various forms of approval in Israel, Mexico and over 30 European countries. Its name comes from Leviticus 6:6, which says: “A perpetual fire shall be kept burning (tookad) on the altar, not to go out” (JPS 1985 translation).

Steba Biotech, based in Luxembourg, has facilities in Israel, including a research center. Some of the technology used in the Tookad treatment was licensed from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot.

Fabrice Harari, chairman and CEO of Steba Biotech, told The Jerusalem Post by phone that “it feels holy” to use a biblical name, which was given at the beginning of the research phase for the drug.

Tookad in the Torah is “the eternal fire that comes in the [Holy] Temple to burn the sacrifice,” he said, which was related to the original concept of the drug, “a drug that would bring some sort of energy to destroy the [cancerous] tumor.”

He credited his father for finding the name and the analogy it represents between the drug and the Torah’s mentioning of its name.

When asked about the process of naming drugs, Harari said that: “The commercial name of a drug is usually decided at a later stage, sometime after the drug has been approved. During all of this life of development, the commercial name does not exist. It’s usually the code name that exists.”

The company used the name Tookad for developmental purposes and kept it for the final product, receiving no pushback from anyone for doing so.

Harari said one of his favorite anecdotes surrounding the naming of the drug is that, sometime after it had been initially named, a rabbi showed him how the words tookad, refaeini (I will cure), and harari (‘my mountain’, but also his family name) all appear within verses of each other in the Haftorah (portion from the Prophets read after the weekly Torah portion) of Bechukotai.

“What are the odds that this would exist?” he said – that three words which reflect what the drug has come to represent to him could all be in the same portion. EPIPEN AUTO-INJECTION epinephrine pens. MK Yehudah Glick: The law ‘costs little and saves lives.’

The Knesset passed into law on Monday a law that requires educational institutions, starting in the next school year, to have epinephrine injections available for children with allergies in case they need emergency treatment.

The bill was sponsored by MK Yehudah Glick (Likud) and passed unanimously. The law specifically requires schools and day care centers to have epinephrine syringes (commonly known as “EpiPens”) on hand, and requires new schools to own those devices before being given licenses to open.

The government will be developing regulations regarding the EpiPens’ required dosages, signage and placement requirements.

The law also allows public institutions to buy EpiPens without prescriptions, after signing a declaration affirming that they are purchasing the devices for public places.

Glick said in a statement that the law “costs little and saves lives. There is a need to also apply the law to restaurants and hotels, where there have already been deaths from allergic reactions; I hope this is the first step on the way there.”

Odelia Albo, a spokesperson for the Israeli Food Allergy Association, told The Jerusalem Post by phone that she and others from the organization have been lobbying for the bill for a while. They even “went from MK to MK” to tell them about the EpiPen law and its importance late on Monday night.

“[The law has] no connection to political parties. This is something designed to save lives. This is something everyone should unite around,” she said.

Albo said the law allows Israel to join other countries that have legislation regarding allergies, and that the Food Allergy Association – which relies on the support of parents of children with allergies – hopes to lobby for more allergy-related bills in the next Knesset session.

She thanked Glick, former Yesh Atid MK Yifat Kariv and everyone who supported the law.