Hemarina, a French biotechnology firm specialized in the research and development of marine-derived oxygen carriers for therapeutic, industrial and research applications, announced that the French National Research Agency (ANR) selected the HEMO2Perf® project under the call for proposals for the ‘Biomedical Innovation through public-private Research Partnership (RPIB)’ program. The HEMO2Perf® project teams up Hemarina, the INSERM U927 research unit “Ischemia-reperfusion in kidney transplantation” at the Poitiers University Hospital, and the Health, Life, and Agricultural Sciences Infrastructures (IBiSA) facility ‘Surgery, Experimentation, Transplantation’ in Surgères.
“The HEMO2Perf® project involves the preclinical evaluation of HEMO2Life® for the storage of kidney transplants in preservation solutions and machine perfusion systems,” explained Professor Thierry Hauet from the INSERM U927 research unit and scientific officer of the IBiSA ‘Surgery, Experimentation, Transplantation’ facility in Surgères. “The first proof of concept has already been obtained for HEMO2Life® in cold static storage. These results were published in September 2011 in The American Journal of Transplantation and show that presevation solutions supplemented with HEMO2Life® lead to better preservation and faster recovery of kidney function after transplantation (« Supplementation with a new therapeutic oxygen carrier reduces chronic fibrosis and organ dysfunction in kidney static preservation ». R Thuillier et al. American Journal of Transplantation 2011; 11(9): 1845-1860). Machine perfusion can oxygenate the kidney during organ storage. Adding an oxygen carrier such as HEMO2Life® to a machine perfusion system may also enhance the preservation of ‘borderline’ kidney grafts in perfusion machines. This is what we seek to test during the HEMO2Perf® project.”... Hemarina's Press Release - Communiqué de presse Hemarina -
Company Overview
Hemarina SA is a privately held biotechnology company centered on the research and development of marine oxygen carriers for therapeutic and industrial applications.
Dr. Franck Zal founded Hemarina in March 2007. He is a world-renowned expert in the field of invertebrate hemoglobin and oxygen transport and has spent more than fourteen years in academic research centers (CNRS, University of California at Santa Barbara USA and University of Antwerp, Belgium) studying the relationships between the structure and function of invertebrate respiratory pigments (extracellular hemoglobin in annelids and hemocyanin in crustaceans). The discoveries arising from his research on extracellular hemoglobin in marine invertebrates and their oxygen-transport system have been patented and published in numerous scientific journals and form the crux of Hemarina’s technology
Hemarina offers products that constitute a decisive technological breakthrough in regard to current or past developments of hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs). Hemarina’s lead product, Hemarina M-101, is the only product under development that uses a natural, high-molecular-weight extracellular hemoglobin whose activity is totally independent of any cofactor. Furthermore, Hemarina M-101 functions in a wide range of temperatures (from 4°C to 37°C). Another major advantage of Hemarina M-101 is that it has no vasoconstrictor effect, which is frequently observed in first-generation HBOCs and responsible for significant side effects, particularly high blood pressure.
Hemarina positions itself as a R&D company focused on oxygen carrier molecules that have therapeutic and industrial applications. Our products have high-value market applications for which there are no true competitors — only potential partners. Therefore our business model revolves around finding win-win partnerships with life sciences or pharmaceutical companies who wish to incorporate Hemarina's technology in their medical devices or drug development process... Hemarina's Company Overview - L'entreprise Hemarina -
