Safi Biotherapeutics, a government-backed startup, is growing blood in a lab to help fight shortages.
The company has received more than $16 million from the U.S. Department of Defense and on Wednesday announced a $5 million seed round led by J2 Ventures.emergency blood shortageShortages can be dire for patients since doctors have to make tough decisions about who needs blood transfusions the most. The American Red Cross collects and distributes about 40% of the U.S.
"People have tried, but the technology has evolved and we see this path now," McConnell told CNBC in an interview."I do think it goes from science fiction to science, but still a lot of work ahead. No question about that." Safi has received more than $16 million to date from the U.S. Department of Defense, and that total could exceed $20 million by the end of the year thanks to an additional in-process grant. The company also recently announced an additional $5 million in seed funding led by J2 Ventures. McConnell said this combined financing will help support the company as it begins to work with regulators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
"We need to show these are safe, we need to show they're effective, that they're doing their job: They deliver oxygen, they circulate in a way that's comparable to a donor red blood cell," McConnell said.Earlier this month, Safi began working with a manufacturer in Manchester, New Hampshire, called the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute to fine-tune its production process.
The company is also engineering special recipes for specific patient populations, as some chronic transfusion patients need blood that is free from certain antigens.
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