New Health Sciences, Inc. (NHSi), a medical technology company focused on innovations to improve transfusion therapy, announced the successful completion of a National Institute of Health (NIH), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Phase I/II contract to develop an anaerobic storage system for red blood cells. The contract provided $1.7 million in funding to advance the original product concept for an anaerobic storage system into a commercially viable product design that meets specific performance and cost targets.
Studies have shown that transfused blood, particularly in large volumes and to vulnerable patients can increase the risk of infections, adverse events and death. The deterioration of red blood cell quality during storage has been shown to be intimately linked to pathways of oxidative damage. Hemanext®, NHSi's novel gas optimized storage system seeks to minimize the degradation and resulting wide variation in Red Blood Cell (RBC) quality seen in storage over time.
During the course of the contract, NHSi substantially completed product design and performance testing to demonstrate consistent carbon dioxide and oxygen reduction in stored red blood cells (RBC) to target levels, at costs that would enable introduction of the system into clinical usage. In addition, the contract also required the generation of scientific studies characterizing the biomechanical and biochemical changes that occur in stored RBC under different gas managed conditions. These studies provide, for the first time, rigorously generated data on the variability of oxygen saturation in donated RBC as well as the change in levels that occur over storage. The studies also provide a data driven understanding of the role that oxidative damage plays in the biomechanical and biochemical changes that occur in stored RBC under different gas managed conditions.
"We are extremely proud to have met the technical and commercial development milestones specified in the NIH contract. With their support, we are moving closer to the introduction of a technology that we believe will have substantial benefits to patients receiving transfusion therapy," said Martin Cannon, CEO of NHSi. With the completion of this contract, Hemanext is now entering the final phase of product validation before submission for an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE). The recently announced SBIR Phase IIb grantawarded to NHSi provides continued NIH support as the company transitions to commercial launch.
About New Health Sciences, Inc:
New Health Sciences, Inc. (NHSi) is a medical technology company with headquarters in Bethesda MD, with an R&D center of excellence in Cambridge MA. Our corporate mission is to support the transfusion medicine community in its efforts to save lives and improve patient outcomes. Our distinctive focus is on innovations that promote radical improvements in the quality, safety, efficacy and cost of transfusion therapy. For more information, visit www.newhealthsciences.com.
