VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ABOzymes Biomedical Inc., today announced it has completed a substantially upsized seed financing. The funds will be used to further develop its ground-breaking proprietary platform that enables a world where a patient’s blood type is no longer the first constraint when they need life-saving organ transplants or blood transfusions.
Built upon the discoveries of Dr. Peter Rahfeld, Professor Stephen G. Withers and Professor Jayachandran Kizzhakedathu of the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia (UBC), ABOzymes' platform converts blood group antigens to group O, the universal donor type, which will increase donor organ matching opportunities and the supply of universal donor blood. The company’s first products will focus on kidney and lung transplants, and will expand to other solid organs and blood products.
This funding builds upon a pre-seed financing completed in February 2021 and non-dilutive funding from the Canadian Glycomics Network, Genome British Columbia, NRC-IRAP and MITACS. The company's research and development activities are also supported by $5M in grant funding from the US Air Force to its academic collaborators at UBC.
“Every doctor has been taught that blood types are considered absolute — ABOzymes has challenged this fundamental dogma of medicine. Once proven, our technology will increase donor organ matching opportunities and the supply of universal donor blood, which will ultimately help save lives,” said John Coleman, PhD, President and CEO of ABOzymes. “This latest capital raise is an important milestone for ABOzymes, allowing us to expand the impact of our platform across a number of use cases, hire more technical staff, and continue to progress our preclinical program to achieve our mission to improve and save lives in ways previously deemed impossible. We appreciate the strong investor interest in this recent financing.”
Nature, the highly respected scientific journal, has listed ABOzymes among its “Ones to Watch” list as part of its international Spinoff Prize competition. In February 2022, a proof-of-concept study was published in Science Translational Medicine outlining how ABOzymes’ platform can convert the blood type in whole human lungs intended for transplantation.
There are critical shortages of O-type universal donor blood that ABOzymes aims to address with its products. The company’s products also aim to make organ transplants occur more safely, rapidly and equitably among patients with all blood types.
About ABOzymes
ABOzymes, a B.C.-based preclinical stage company, has developed an innovative platform that enables a world where a person’s blood type is no longer the first constraint when they need life-saving organ transplants or blood transfusions. ABOzymes has identified enzymes that convert the cell surface antigen that determines blood group A to group O, universal donor type. ABOzymes’ platform will enable healthcare providers to better prioritize patients by medical urgency, to spend less on management and logistics, and to ultimately save more lives. For more information, please visit: www.abozymes.com
