As of today, ARTCLINE received the notification of a grant of approx. EUR 215,000 from the funding program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy “Central Innovation Program for SMEs” (ZIM). In connection with ARTCLINE’s immune cell therapy, a self-contained bag system is being developed for the purification and storage of standardized immune cell preparations for use in the extracorporeal sepsis treatment.
The Central Innovation Program for SMEs is a nationwide, technology and industry-open funding program. The ZIM program aims to sustainably strengthen the innovative power and thus the competitiveness of medium-sized companies.
ARTCLINE’s extracorporeal immune cell therapy combines medical technology components known from kidney dialysis with immune cells from healthy blood donors for the treatment of severe infections (sepsis).
The use of immune cells (leukocytes) to treat sepsis in an extracorporeal environment has already been successfully investigated in initial clinical studies in patients with septic shock, and the safety and tolerability have been reported in several scientific publications.
The funding program supports ARTCLINE in improving the patented method for purifying the immune cells of healthy blood donors in a newly developed closed blood bag system in order to ease cell purification and to extend production capacity.
Severe infections / sepsis are responsible for 20% of all death worldwide according to the 2020 WHO Global report on the epidemiology and burden of sepsis. In Germany approx. 280,000 new cases of sepsis occur every year – about 25% of patients die of the disease. Despite the advances in modern medicine, for example in the areas of vaccinations, antibiotics and acute care, the incidence of sepsis is not falling, but rather increasing with the aging population and the increasing use of invasive medical methods.
ARTCLINE currently prepares a randomized, controlled clinical study in intensive care units in 4 German hospitals to demonstrate not only the safety but also the effectiveness of ARTCLINE’s immune cell therapy.
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