Lindis Blood Care successfully closes follow-on financing round
Hennigsdorf, Germany – 9th February, 2022.
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- Funding round supported by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Brandenburg Kapital and several private investors, showing their continued commitment
- Funds to be mainly used to complete ongoing REMOVE study with CATUVAB®, extend clinical program, complete CE marking procedure, start FDA market application process and support partnering activities
- CATUVAB® is a novel approach designed to be a safe and cost-effective way to reliably remove tumor cells from autologous blood
Lindis Blood Care, a company aiming to set a new Gold Standard for blood management during cancer surgeries with its medical device CATUVAB®, today announced the closing of a follow-on financing round. The new investment will mainly be used to expand the clinical program, take the company through the CE and the start of the FDA market application process as well as support ongoing partnering activities. The round was led by existing investors, including High-Tech Gründerfonds and Brandenburg Kapital, the venture-capital arm of the investment bank of the State of Brandenburg, as well as several private investors, one of whom is investing in LBC for the first time.
“This investment comes at an exciting time for Lindis Blood Care, and we are grateful for the continued support and trust that our investors have placed in our innovative approach,” commented Dr. Franzpeter Bracht, founder and Managing Director of Lindis Blood Care. “The feedback and interest we have received from both the medical community and potential partners support the urgent need for an effective and easy-to-implement tumor cell removal method that can avoid the risks associated with allogeneic red blood cell transfusions and decrease the use of donor blood. The clinical results we have seen so far with CATUVAB® are highly promising, and we look forward to seeing the top-line results from the ongoing REMOVE study, expected in mid-2022. These results, if positive, will form the basis for a potential CE medical device certification in Europe and other regions.”
Thomas Krause, Managing Director of Brandenburg Kapital, said: “We are delighted by the great progress the team has made over the past two years in turning a concept into a clinical-stage program and are truly excited about how this technology may improve patient lives.”
“We are pleased to support this new funding round to bring Lindis Blood Care´s innovation a huge step closer to the market as we see the potential for CATUVAB® to transform patient blood management in oncologic surgery,” added Angelika Vlachou, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF.
Autologous (patient’s own) blood transfusion has long been considered unsafe in cancer surgery due to the risk of metastases from tumor cells being released into the blood during the procedure. With its medical device CATUVAB®, Lindis Blood Care aims to set a new Gold Standard in cancer patient blood management by reliably removing tumor cells from patient blood collected during surgery.
CATUVAB® could thus avoid the limited availability and negative effects of donor blood transfusions, including severe side effects, tumor recurrence and decreased life expectancy. CATUVAB®’s mechanism of action is physical and does not involve pharmacological, immunological, or metabolic action. In testing to date, the device has shown high specificity and good safety. The approach can easily be integrated into existing clinical practice and represents a cost-effective method compared to fully burdened allogeneic blood transfusions and the treatment-related costs due to severe side effects associated with such transfusions.
The company’s approach has already shown proof of concept both in vitro and in an initial clinical study. The data showed that no tumor cells could be detected in the surgical blood treated with CATUVAB®. A confirmatory multicenter clinical study was initiated in February 2021 with the objective to achieve European CE certification by the end of 2022.
About Lindis Blood Care:
Lindis Blood Care is a medical technology company developing the medical device CATUVAB®. CATUVAB® is used to remove EpCAM-positive tumor cells including Tumor Stem Cells from surgical blood and is thus designed to enable the use of MAT (machine autotransfusion technology), which is already applied broadly in non-oncological surgeries, in the re-transfusion of blood shed during tumor surgery.
During cancer surgery, donor blood is typically used when large volume blood loss occurs. However, the transfusion of donor blood can result in numerous serious side effects and increased tumor recurrence rates. In the future, such side effects could be reduced by re-transfusing the patient’s own blood after treatment with CATUVAB®. In cancer surgery, the collection and return of intraoperative blood during an operation (intraoperative blood salvage or IBS) with the help of IBS devices, which is standard procedure for many other surgeries, cannot be applied routinely, since tumor cells are often released into the patient’s blood during the surgery. In this case, the patient’s blood must not be re-transfused due to the risk of metastasis. This issue is what CATUVAB® addresses. CATUVAB® consists of a trifunctional antibody and a filter that enables tumor cells to be removed reliably from surgical blood using standard IBS procedure. The product and process can be integrated easily into everyday clinical practice and become part of standard patient blood management.
About Brandenburg Kapital GMBH / ILB
Brandenburg Kapital GmbH is a subsidiary of the Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg (ILB). Since 1993, as the venture capital arm of ILB, it has supported Brandenburg-based companies by acquiring equity stakes and equity-like investments. As a public venture capital company, experienced lead investor and active partner, Brandenburg Kapital ensures a strong equity base for start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises in the State of Brandenburg on the basis of a stable group environment. For this purpose, the Early-stage and Growth Fund is currently available in the amount of around 100 million euros. The fund resources for the Brandenburg Kapital fund, which was set up on behalf of the Brandenburg Ministry of Economics, are currently provided by the European Fund for Regional Development and by the ILB. Through the investment activities of the ILB, 232 companies have been supported so far on their growth course with around 256 million euros. In addition, private investors have invested more than 525 million euros in the companies to date.
Further information is available at: www.brandenburg-kapital.de
About High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) is a seed investor that finances high-potential, tech-driven start-ups. With around EUR 900 million in total investment volume across three funds and an international network of partners, HTGF has already helped forge more than 650 start-ups since 2005. Driven by their expertise, entrepreneurial spirit and passion, its team of experienced investment managers and startup experts help guide the development of young companies. HTGF’s focus is on high-tech start-ups in the fields of digital tech, industrial technology, life sciences, chemistry and related business areas. To date, external investors have injected more than EUR 4 billion into the HTGF portfolio via more than 1,800 follow-on financing rounds. HTGF has also successfully sold interests in more than 150 companies.
Investors in this public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, KfW Capital, and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft e.V., as well as the companies ALTANA, BASF, BAYER, B.Braun, Boehringer Ingelheim, Robert Bosch, BÜFA, CEWE, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Post DHL, Dräger, 1+1 AG, EVONIK, EWE AG, FOND OF, Haniel, Hettich, Knauf, Körber, LANXESS, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, PHOENIX CONTACT, QIAGEN, RWE Generation SE, SAP, Schufa, Schwarz Gruppe, STIHL, Thüga, Vector Informatik, WACKER and Wilh. Werhahn KG.