HEMANEXT ANNOUNCES CLOSE OF SERIES B EQUITY FUNDING ROUND

Raises $18 Million in New Equity Financing

Appoints Healthcare Luminary Dr. Ismail Kola to Board of Directors, Adding Clinical Development Expertise 

Progresses European Commercial Launch with Rollout to Key Distributors and Leading Hospitals and Blood Centers

LEXINGTON, Mass., Nov. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hemanext Inc., a leading innovator in blood processing, storage, and transfusion technology, today announced the successful first close of its Series B fundraising round. Taken together with the exercise of outstanding warrants, this close brings an additional $18 million of equity capital from noted global private investors with deep finance and healthcare expertise. To date, the company has raised approximately $130mm (inclusive of $8mm in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health).

The Company also announced the appointment of Dr. Ismail Kola to its Board of Directors. Dr. Kola was formerly Executive Vice President of UCB S.A. and President and Chief Scientific Officer of UCB New Medicines. He previously served as Chief Scientific Officer at Schering-Plough Corporation and held various senior positions at Merck. Dr. Kola holds a Ph.D. in Medicine from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and has held several professorships at leading universities worldwide, including Cambridge University. This announcement of Dr. Kola's appointment follows that of Dr. Paul Ness, formerly Senior Director of the Division of Transfusion Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, earlier this year.

Martin Cannon, CEO of Hemanext, said: "As Hemanext advances on all fronts, we are fortunate and gratified to be supported by an exceptional group of successful and respected new investors who have joined our core investment community in this B round. Among them is Dr. Kola, who also joins our Board of Directors and strengthens our expanding community of world-class medical thought leaders. Dr. Kola has built an extraordinarily successful career in the development and commercialization of therapeutic solutions to some of the most challenging clinical problems. With his broad drug development expertise, and his global scientific stature as a trusted strategic resource to many pioneering biotechnology and life science companies, Hemanext will benefit greatly from his passion for patient welfare and recognized expertise in areas vital for the realization of the enormous potential of our company."

Dr. Ismail Kola said: "I believe there is a significant unmet need in transfusion medicine that makes Hemanext's technology and mission absolutely essential to the global healthcare ecosystem. I have spent my career bringing life-changing new therapies to fruition, with the ultimate goal of making patients' lives better. That is what excites me most about Hemanext – its patient-centric approach. I look forward to supporting the company as it continues to expand its presence and bring its new technology to the market."

Commercial Launch in Europe

In August, Hemanext entered into distribution agreements with two leading medical device distributors in the Nordics and Italy, bolstering its sales capabilities across key European markets and strengthening its relationships with top blood centers and clinicians in each region.

Hemanext has now received initial commercial orders in Europe, with implementation planned in several blood establishments by the end of the year. This milestone comes after the Company received CE Mark certification for the Hemanext ONE Red Blood Cell (RBC) Processing and Storage System in 2021 and commenced targeted post CE-mark certification clinical studies in 2022. The Company looks forward to expanding its presence into additional markets in Europe in 2023.

Series B and C Equity Rounds

The Company will be keeping the current Series B available to investors for the next few weeks. Hemanext expects to begin a Series C round with institutional investors in 2023.

Sonenshine Fulford Group, a collaboration between Sonenshine Partners in the U.S. and The Fulford Group in the U.K., is advising Hemanext in its fundraising.

About Hemanext
Hemanext is a privately held medical technology company based in Lexington, MA that is dedicated to improving the quality, safety, efficacy, and cost of transfusion therapy. The company's research and development efforts center on the study of hypoxically stored red blood cells (RBCs). The company's aim is to significantly improve the quality of stored RBCs.

About Hemanext ONE^®
In Europe, the system is CE Marked for the processing and storage CPD/PAGGSM Red Blood Cells, Leukocytes Reduced (LR RBC) that have been prepared and processed with the HEMANEXT ONE^® system within 24 hours of collection. The HEMANEXT ONE^® system limits the O₂ and CO₂ levels in the storage environment. Red Blood Cells Leukocytes Reduced, O₂ /CO₂ Reduced may be stored for up to 42 days at 1-6°C. HEMANEXT ONE^® is used for volumes no greater than 350 ml of LR RBC.¹

In the United States, the product remains available for investigational use only, pending marketing authorization from the FDA.

Preclinical data show that the medical device can maintain RBCs at or below 20% oxygen saturation for up to 42 days², thereby creating hypoxic RBCs. Clinical studies are underway to measure the impact of hypoxic RBCs on patient outcomes and the potential cost savings.^3,4

Visit Hemanext.com to learn more about the Company.

Hemanext Media Contact:

Nathan Riggs / Hallie Wolff
[email protected] / [email protected]

¹ Hemanext ONE®, Instructions for Use for the European Union (April 2021), DOF
² Brouard, D et al. Vox Sang 2018; 113: 153.2018.
³ Frank, S et al.  Anesthesiology 2017;127(5):754-764. 
⁴ DOF. Document.Calculation.2021

SOURCE Hemanext Inc.