Baltimore, United States
KaloCyte, Inc. is a preclinical biotech startup that has developed ErythroMer, an artificial red blood cell substitute to be used when stored blood is unavailable. Founded in 2016 by a distinguished team of Washington University in St. Louis researchers, KaloCyte has received support from the BioGenerator Fundamentals program and has demonstrated preclinical safety and efficacy for ErythroMer, which is a shelf-stable, bio-inspired artificial red blood cell. The company is based at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) as an Affiliate of the UM BioPark, within the UM School of Medicine’s Center for Blood Oxygen Transport and Hemostasis (CBOTH).
ErythroMer is designed as a first-in-class, bio-inspired nanoparticle-encapsulated human hemoglobin, providing a solution for situations where stored red blood cells are unavailable, undesirable, or in short supply. The technology offers advantages such as a synthetic outer membrane, small size, and surface area for physiologically realistic gas exchange, and its "immune-silent" nature eliminates the need for blood typing and cross-matching. ErythroMer is supported by $14M in federal awards and $5M investor funding, with the latest investment of $5.00K coming from Comcast RISE on 23 August 2023.
KaloCyte's groundbreaking technology, protected by issued U.S. patents, has the potential to address critical needs in healthcare, particularly in emergency and remote settings where access to stored blood is limited.
