Aphios has been awarded a RC-1 Challenge grant (No 1RC1HL102822-01) from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institute of Health’s (NIH) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to develop a generally-applicable pathogen inactivation technology for blood products.
Aphios’ CFI (critical fluid inactivation) technology is purely physical, inactivates both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses as well as bacterial pathogens, and does not involve the use of heat, chemicals or irradiation that could damage sensitive enzymes and proteins. A generally-applicable physical technology for inactivating viruses and emerging pathogens with high retention of biological activity will help ensure a blood supply that is safe from emerging and unknown pathogens as well as bioterrorism threats.
Aphios will collaborate with the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), DOD to evaluate the use of CFI to inactivate potential viral and bacterial bioterrorism agents.
Arthur Lander, co-inventor of the Aphios CFI technology, University of California, Irvine, said: “In addition to its direct applicability to human plasma and plasma proteins, CFI has the capability to clear viruses and pathogens from biotechnology drugs and monoclonal antibodies. It also has the potential for the rapid manufacturing of antiviral human and animal vaccines since protein integrity and antigenicity are retained during the purely physical virus inactivation step.”