AABB Corporate Partner Spotlight: Hemanext

“Safer transfusions, healthier patients” is Hemanext’s mission, according to Alex Marichal, VP of Marketing at Hemanext. “Hemanext is dedicated to improving the quality, safety, efficacy and cost of transfusion therapy,” he said, noting that the company strives to significantly improve the quality of stored red blood cells by limiting oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the storage environment.

For more than a decade, Hemanext has committed its resources to the transfusion medicine community through its investments and its research — research that has garnered several National Institutes of Health grants worth $8.2 million and AABB’s RISE Award in 2021.

Hemanext has contributed to the blood and biotherapies field by supporting the quality of transfusion therapy, said Marichal. Specifically, some researchers have suggested that limiting oxygen — the main source of the storage lesion — could have a meaningful impact on health care outcomes for patients requiring blood transfusions.¹ According to Marichal, Hemanext has developed technology that could improve the way blood centers approach RBC processing and storage, and improving transfusion quality could well help alleviate shortages of the global blood supply.²

Support for the AABB Community

As a part of its support for the blood and biotherapies field, Hemanext has been a long-time supporter of AABB.

“Hemanext has supported AABB through our first sponsorship at the AABB Annual Meeting in 2017 and is proud to be an inaugural member of the Corporate Partner program, launched this past summer,” said Marichal.

“As Hemanext continues to look for ways to pursue our mission for safer transfusions and healthier patients, the decision to join AABB’s Corporate Partner Program made perfect sense. We felt that it was important to deepen our connection and increase our support to AABB, the organization that is the heart of this community and dedicated to advancing transfusions and biotherapies,” Marichal told AABB News.

In addition, the company was also interested in the opportunity to participate in AABB’s Standard-Compliant Product Evaluation (SCoPE) Program to obtain the AABB Standards-Compliant seal, which represents that their quality system and technical documentation support AABB standards — demonstrating commitment to the highest standards for quality. Marichal said that Hemanext is in the middle of the process to achieve the AABB Standards-Compliant seal now and is looking forward to completing the evaluation.

Marichal said AABB members are an important audience for Hemanext because they are on the forefront of innovation and establishing the standards for transfusion medicine. It is important to partner with these industry leaders to be a part of the evolution of advancing blood and biotherapies and continuing to strive for safer transfusions, he said.

Hemanext was interested, specifically, in the AABB Corporate Partner Program in order to develop and foster key relationships to help in pursuit of its mission. In addition, Marichal said that Hemanext was excited about the opportunity for enrichment with key resources offered by the Association.

Given the fundamental importance of blood processing and storage for global health care, said Marichal, “we feel that this partnership will help efforts to advance science with an eye toward the betterment of transfusion patients worldwide.”

In the near future, AABB members can expect to see Hemanext sell its blood processing and storage system in Europe after receiving CE Mark certification for the product. In the United States, the product is currently available for investigational use only. In addition, Hemanext plans to focus on educating the community about the importance of blood quality and would like to collaborate with AABB on future scientific forums.

“At Hemanext, we are constantly working toward a world in which patients are able to receive fewer transfusions,” said Marichal. “We are excited to bring our innovative technology to physicians and their patients around the world.”

“We encourage AABB members to reach out to us with any questions, comments or concerns,” he concluded.

Endnotes

¹ Yoshida, T, Prudent, M and D’Alessandro, A. “Red blood cell storage lesion: causes and potential clinical consequences.” Blood Transfus. 2019: 17 (1): 27-52.

² Severe Blood Shortage. (n.d.). Red Cross. Retrieved August 11, 2021, from https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/news/2021/severe-blood-shortage.html; Research to Address Gaps in International Blood Availability & Transfusion Safety: Challenges & Opportunities | NHLBI, NIH. (n.d.). NIH. Retrieved August 11, 2021, from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/events/2017/research-address-gapsinternational-blood-availability-transfusion-safety-challenges.