DoD-backed startup targets scientific trials of bio-manufactured crimson blood cells to deal with limitations of present donor blood system.
Biotech startup Safi Biotherapeutics has secured $5 million in seed funding to advance its mission to speed up the manufacturing of bio-manufactured crimson blood cells. The corporate is creating manufactured blood cells for sufferers requiring transfusions for a spread of power circumstances, whereas additionally exploring the creation of common donor blood cells to be used in acute trauma and surgical settings.
Safi is focusing on points related to the present donor blood provide system, which it says is weak to shortages. Sufferers requiring common transfusions typically develop immune responses to a number of blood antigens, complicating the matching course of and growing the issue of discovering appropriate donor blood. As well as, as the worldwide inhabitants ages, it’s anticipated that the demand for blood donations will rise, whereas the pool of donors concurrently diminishes.
Safi’s expertise goals to deal with these challenges by creating crimson blood cells grown from stem cell sources. Whereas the idea of rising crimson blood cells in a lab has been explored by researchers for a few years, the main focus has now shifted to producing these cells in ample portions at a price that makes them a commercially viable various to donor blood.
“We all know crimson blood cells may be grown from stem cell sources; tutorial and trade groups have been demonstrating this for years,” stated Safi CEO Doug McConnell. “There have even been scientific trials with small, teaspoon quantities of cultured RBCs being transfused, together with the present RESTORE study out of the University of Bristol within the UK. The problem has been whether or not we will make sufficient of those cells cheaply sufficient to be viable as a business various to donor blood. We imagine we will.”
Safi was based in 2020 as a part of the US Division of Protection’s On-Demand Blood program, an initiative geared toward advancing blood cell remedy applied sciences. Safi’s partnership with the DoD has enabled the corporate to reveal the business feasibility of manufacturing allogeneic crimson blood cells at a scale that helps a number of transfusion models.
“The DoD funding has supported the event of excessive depth, hyper-efficient manufacturing of those cells utilizing diminished quantities of media and a lowered price of parts,” added McConnell. “We now see a path ahead for an economically viable mRBC product that may serve each civilian and army wants and increase the prevailing donor blood provide.”
The brand new seed funding, led by J2 Ventures, provides to greater than $15 million in DoD funding, and is predicted to speed up Safi’s efforts in scientific manufacturing and regulatory processes, together with the submission of an Investigational New Drug (IND) software and the initiation of scientific trials.
