Research Triangle Park, NC, August 25, 2011 – The U.S. Navy has awarded Entegrion, the life sciences development company focused on expanding the therapeutic potential of the human vascular system, an extension of up to $9.84 million on an existing contract to develop a multi-functional resuscitation fluid. The Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR) is funding the life-saving resuscitation research over the next two years to investigate the potential for combining various technologies in order to develop a means that is more effective for resuscitating combat casualties than single component strategies.

The resuscitation fluid incorporates two of Entegrion’s developmental products, Resusix® and Stasix®, and may incorporate oxygen-carrying and anti-inflammatory components.  Resusix® is dehydrated pathogen-inactivated human plasma.  Stasix®, in pre-clinical development, is a freeze-dried, shelf-stable hemostatic agent that is derived from blood platelets and can be rapidly and conveniently rehydrated and infused when bleeding is caused by low platelet counts or dysfunction.

“The Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health are funding ground-breaking research that is yielding new understandings of the pathophysiology of shock and traumatic injury. Our challenge is to apply these new understandings to existing and emerging technologies that might contribute to improving outcomes following traumatic injury. This project will explore the integration of emerging technologies that hold great promise for domestic and global health applications,” said Joseph DaCorta, Entegrion’s Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. “Fresh whole blood is considered the gold standard for resuscitating trauma patients after massive hemorrhage. We hope to develop an engineered construct that has similar beneficial effects, but without allergic and infectious risk, while overcoming storage limitations.”

DaCorta added that Entegrion is pleased the award also allows them to work with some of the nation’s premiere research institutes.

About Entegrion

Entegrion is a life sciences development company that is focused on improving the safety and availability of blood component therapy.  Based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, its patented technologies are designed to overcome limitations in storage, safety, and availability of blood-derived products while improving their functionality. Many of Entegrion’s advances in biologics are based on close collaborations with leading medical research institutions. Visit www.entegrion.com  for more information.

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