HemostOD partners with the biggest transfusion service in Switzerland

The Swiss preclinical biotech company HemostOD and Interregional Blood Transfusion SRC, the biggest Swiss blood transfusion services, are pleased to announce their partnership to collaborate on the in vitro production of platelets. The collaboration will empower the development from bioreactor to patients.

In vitro production of blood cells (i.e. in bioreactor) has emerged during the last decades. These advances could mark a major revolution in the transfusion chain and are of strategic importance for transfusion centers.

These future blood products have the potential to improve the blood supply, especially in transfusion impasses (both in prophylaxis and curative treatments). Platelet concentrates are transfused to patients to prevent or to stop bleeding.

HemostOD has developed an innovative solution to manufacture engineered platelets in vitro from immortalized hematopoietic stem cells. The bioreactor-based technology has a large-scale capacity to produce platelets in a very short time. Production can be ramped up on demand to meet rising platelet needs worldwide.

Innovation meets expertise

The innovative preclinical biotech company is pleased to announce the collaboration with Interregional Blood Transfusion SRC (IBT) to benefit from their expertise in transfusion medicine, their advanced knowledge on platelets and their skills in blood components processing, quality control, storage and distribution.

This collaboration will empower the development of these universal platelet concentrates and will contribute to the launch of a clinical trial for the patient care.

"At HemostOD we have made the proof-of-concept of platelet production at 1 liter scale," Says Faouzi Khechana, CEO of HemostOD. "We are now looking forward to working together with IBT to fully characterize these in vitro platelets and benefit from IBT's expertise in platelet processing and conditioning. This development work will bring us one step closer to a first clinical trial in 2027."

Prof. Michel Prudent, Head of Innovation & Therapeutic Products at IBT, is looking forward to the collaboration: "Sharing this knowledge and skills is an opportunity to move forward in transfusion medicine. The solid expertise that has been acquired in R&D at IBT will contribute to provide innovation to the benefit of patients."

Contact Information: - Faouzi Khechana, Co-Founder & CEO HemostOD SA: faouzi.khechana@hemostod.com | +41 79 308 92 44 - Michel Prudent, Prof., Head of Innovation & Therapeutic Products, Interregional Blood Transfusion SRC: michel.prudent@itransfusion.ch | +41 21 333 16 70