Safi Biotherapeutics, a Cambridge, MA-based developer of manufactured red blood cells (mRBCs) as an alternative to donor blood transfusions, raised $5M in seed funding.
The round, which complements over $15M in funding received to date from the U.S. Department of Defense, was led by J2 Ventures.
While the DoD support has enabled Safi and its government program partners to demonstrate that an mRBC transfusion product is commercially feasible, the seed financing accelerates the clinical production and regulatory path toward IND submission and initial clinical trials. It also allows the company to expand its team of experts in cell therapy product development and bring in additional regulatory, clinical strategy, and commercialization thought leaders. The funds will catalyze the manufacturing scale-up, non-clinical studies, and US FDA regulatory activities required to initiate clinical trials for mRBCs at a multi-unit transfusion scale.
Led by CEO Doug McConnell, Safi is a pre-clinical stage blood cell therapy company developing bio-manufactured red blood cells (mRBCs) with targeted immuno-phenotypes for multi-unit, chronic transfusion indications, including sickle-cell disease, thalassemias and chemotherapy-related anemia, as well as universal donor mRBCs for acute trauma and surgical transfusions. Launched in 2020 as part of the US Department of Defense On-Demand Blood program, Safi and its partners have advanced the technology to demonstrate the feasibility of an allogeneic, stem-cell sourced, mRBC product at multi-transfusion-unit scale and viable economics.
FinSMEs
12/09/2024