Xenios and Leukocare Form Strategic Partnership

Xenios AG and Leukocare AG are teaming up to reduce swelling during surgery.

The two German based life science companies have formed a strategic alliance to develop and market Xenios’ extracorporeal support systems with Leukocare’s anti-inflammatory surface coating. Leukocare has granted Xenios a worldwide license of its relevant patents and know-how with exclusivity for anti-inflammatory surfaces; the company will incorporate its clinically proven coating technology into Xenios devices sold under the Novalung, Medos and further Xenios brands.

“With Leukocare we have an ideal strategic partner to develop significantly improved medical devices. The anti-inflammatory function will allow for next generation extracorporeal devices offering tremendous improvement in all kinds of therapies conducting blood outside the human body.” Xenios CEO Josef Bogenschütz said.

Anti-inflammatory coatings are designed to limit unwanted swelling generated by artificial device materials. Leukocare’s proprietary Stabilizing and Protecting Solutions (SPS) represent a breakthrough in the development of biofunctional surfaces by stabilizing employed proteins, hence allowing terminal sterilization of these combination devices, the company claims. This results in a higher level of product quality with significantly reduced manufacturing costs compared to aseptic production.

“There is an urgent medical need to reduce inflammation in patients undergoing cardiac surgery or depending on support for a diseased lung to achieve our goal of better clinical outcomes for physicians and of course for their patients.” noted Dr. Jürgen O. Böhm, Xenios CMMO (certified manager of maintenance operations).

Leukocare CEO Michael Scholl added, ”Xenios is a strong partner. Its pertinent expertise in the respective markets of extracorporeal devices and the broad range of products that will benefit from the anti-inflammatory surfaces make Xenios the perfect match for our company. This collaborative project demonstrates the full range of Leukocare’s capabilities from evaluating biologically active compounds to developing marketable applications and integrating them into industrial scale processes.”
 
Founded this year by Novalung GmbH and Medos AG, Xenios is a common holding company formed to create synergies in administration, research and development, regulatory affairs and quality management. Its core technology platforms include artificial lungs, blood pumps, vascular access devices, temperature control, and biocompatible surfaces and its brands – Novalung, Medos and Xenios Pediatrics – provide extracorporeal therapy systems that respond to the medical need in pulmonary and cardiac failure.

Leukocare provides technologies for stabilizing proteins to extend shelf-life and to enable terminal sterilization. Leukocare leverages its expertise in product-focused industrial partnerships, offering its know-how in biofunctional coatings, formulation of biologics and product development to interested parties ranging from service-based collaborations to co-development partnerships. Leukocare was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Martinsried near Munich, Germany.