Biotech
Wednesday, September 11th, 2024 4:08 pm EDT
Key Points
- Safi Biotherapeutics, a startup led by Doug McConnell, aims to create lab-grown blood to address emergency shortages, reducing reliance on donations by manufacturing red blood cells at scale.
- Safi’s process, funded with over $16 million from the U.S. Department of Defense and private investors, focuses on using progenitor cells to efficiently produce large quantities of red blood cells, with the goal of lowering costs to $300 per unit, comparable to donated blood.
- Although the company faces years of testing and FDA approval, it plans to scale production over the next decade to produce more than a million units annually, providing a potential solution to the blood supply crisis.
The American Red Cross recently declared an emergency blood shortage due to a 25% drop in supply in July. Safi Biotherapeutics, a four-year-old startup led by CEO Doug McConnell, is working on a solution by developing lab-grown blood to reduce reliance on donations. Current methods of growing red blood cells from stem cells are costly and produce only small amounts, but Safi aims to manufacture large quantities of red blood cells at a lower cost for commercial use.
Safi’s process starts with progenitor cells derived from bone marrow stem cells, which are grown into red blood cells using a bioreactor. The company is focused on optimizing the efficiency and cost of this process by improving cell growth through “doublings” and using alternative, cost-effective ingredients. Safi has already received over $16 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Defense and an additional $5 million in seed funding, with more grants in the pipeline. However, Safi’s technology is not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the company faces years of testing to ensure safety, functionality, and compliance with regulatory standards.
Safi recently partnered with the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI) in New Hampshire to refine its blood production process. Currently, Safi can produce one unit of blood at a cost of under $2,000 using a 10-liter bioreactor, with the goal of reducing that cost to below $500 or even $300, comparable to the price of donor blood. U.S. hospitals paid a median price of $214 per unit of donated blood in 2021. Safi envisions scaling up its production, with plans to eventually generate 100 units per run and reach a million units of blood annually within the next decade.
McConnell aims for Safi to address the ongoing blood shortages and believes the company’s technology can offer a sustainable and scalable solution. Although it will take six to seven years for Safi’s lab-grown blood to be commercially available, the goal is to establish a self-sufficient blood supply chain that could transform the way hospitals and clinics manage blood shortages.
For the full original article on CNBC, please click here: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/11/safi-biotherapeutics-is-growing-blood-to-help-fight-shortages.html
