Lindis Blood Care Announces Successful Financing for its Tumor-Cell-Removal Medical Device, CATUVAB®

Lindis Blood Care Announces Successful Financing for its Tumor-Cell-Removal Medical Device, CATUVAB^® 

• First closing of funding round supported by Brandenburg Kapital, High-Tech Gründerfonds, existing and new private investors; second closing expected by the end of Q1 2025
• Funds to be used in preparing for upcoming approval and product launch of CATUVAB^® in Europe
• CATUVAB^® is a novel approach designed to be a safe and cost-effective way to reliably remove tumor cells from autologous blood

Hennigsdorf, Germany – 12 December, 2024.

Lindis Blood Care, a company aiming to set new standards for blood management during cancer surgeries with its medical device CATUVAB^®, today announced the successful first closing of a follow-on financing round. The new investment will be used to prepare for the anticipated approval of the medical device (CE Mark) and product launch in Europe. The FDA process for marketing approval in the US is ongoing. The round was led by Brandenburg Kapital, the venture-capital arm of the investment bank of the State of Brandenburg. High-Tech Gründerfonds, existing and new private investors as well as the founders, Dr. Franzpeter Bracht and Dr. Horst Lindhofer, participated in the financing round.

“We are grateful for the continued support of our existing shareholders and welcome our new investors who share our vision of introducing the first medical device that has the potential to redefine the protocols of intraoperative blood salvage in cancer surgeries,” commented Dr. Franzpeter Bracht, founder and Managing Director of Lindis Blood Care. “The results of our clinical certification study REMOVE were outstanding; confirmed the excellent safety profile and met all clinical endpoints with high statistical significance. We are now focusing our efforts on concluding the processes to receive CE Mark in Europe and FDA marketing approval in the US as well as preparing for market launch.”

CATUVAB^® is a novel approach designed to be a safe and cost-effective way to reliably remove tumor cells from autologous blood during high blood loss surgeries. Its mechanism of action is physical and does not involve pharmacological, immunological, or metabolic action. 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.

“We are excited to support Lindis Blood Care in their mission to revolutionize oncological surgery with CATUVAB^®. Their innovation has the potential to significantly enhance patient safety and outcomes by enabling safe autologous blood transfusions during cancer surgeries. Our investment reflects our strong belief in the clinical and market potential of CATUVAB^® and the dedicated team driving its development. We are proud to be part of this journey, helping to bring a transformative solution to patients and healthcare providers” emphasized Dr. Moritz Beissenhirtz, Investment Director Life Sciences at Brandenburg Kapital.

Results from a confirmatory open-label, multicenter clinical study (REMOVE), that enrolled more than 130 patients to assess CATUVAB^® for use during intraoperative blood salvage (IBS) procedures in cancer surgeries, showed that CATUVAB^® was safe and effective, meeting all primary and secondary endpoints with high statistical significance. The top-line data were presented during the NATA24 Annual Symposium in Bologna on April 19, 2024,

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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 from surgical blood with the use of IBS (intraoperative blood salvage) technology, which is generally used today to re-transfuse surgically shed blood in non-oncological procedures. EpCAM is also known as a marker on tumor initiating cancer stem cells – a main driver of metastasis.

During cancer surgeries, donor blood is typically used when large volume blood loss occurs. This is the case for around up to 900,000 oncological procedures worldwide, each year. However, the transfusion of donor blood can result in numerous serious side effects including immunosuppression of the recipient and increased tumor recurrence rates. Such side effects could be avoided in the future with the use of CATUVAB^® and the potential re-transfusion of the patient's own blood. In cancer surgeries, the collection and return of surgical blood during an operation (autologous blood transfusion) with the help of IBS devices, which is standard procedure for many other surgeries, cannot be applied, since cancer 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 possibility of metastasis. This is where CATUVAB^® comes in. It consists of a filter and trifunctional antibody that aggregates tumor and immune cells, which are then removed through centrifugation and filtration using the standard IBS procedure. This process ensures the reliable removal of tumor cells from surgical blood, as shown in the REMOVE certification study. The product and process can be integrated easily into everyday clinical practice and can become part of contemporary "patient blood management".

Lindis Blood Care’s success has been facilitated by funding from 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.

www.lindis-bloodcare.com

About Brandenburg Kapital GMBH / ILB
Brandenburg Kapital GmbH is a subsidiary of the Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg (ILB). As the venture capital arm of ILB, it has been supporting companies in Brandenburg since 1993 by acquiring equity and quasi-equity 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. The equity fund, which currently amounts to around € 100 million, is available for this purpose. The funds for the Brandenburg Kapital fund, which was set up on behalf of the Brandenburg Ministry of Economic Affairs, are currently provided from the European Regional Development Fund and ILB's own resources. With a total of eleven funds, financed by the state, the EU, KfW, and ILB's own resources amounting to around € 325 million, around 300 Brandenburg companies have been supported with venture capital and/or mezzanine financing over the last 30 years.

Further information can be found at: http://www.brandenburg-kapital.de
 

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing start-ups in the fields of Deep Tech, Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, Digital Tech, Life Sciences and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports start-ups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Across its funds, HTGF has over 2 billion euros under management. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 750 start-ups and achieved over 180 successful exits.

Fund investors in the public-private partnership include the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, KfW Capital as well as 45 companies and family offices.  
For more information, please visit HTGF.de or follow us on LinkedIn.