Munich, Germany - Friday, September 14, 2007
Hepa Wash GmbH (Hepa Wash), a medical device company dedicated to the development of next-generation liver support systems announced today that it has received a € 120,000 BayTOU grant from the Bavarian Government for the development of its novel and proprietary technology for the treatment of patients with liver failure.
“We are very pleased that our efforts in the development of a new and innovative therapy for the treatment of patients with severe liver disease will be further supported by the Bavarian Government”, said Bernhard Kreymann, CEO and Founder of Hepa Wash. “This grant not only substantiates the quality of our previous work but also the commitment of the Bavarian Government to really support technology-driven start-up companies thereby also contributing to the further progression of Bavaria as a center of excellence for medical technology. This grant, together with the funding from our recently closed II. Seed financing round, will allow us to move forward developing our innovative technology which has the potential to significantly improve the condition and life of so many patients with severe liver failure.”
Liver failure (acute or chronic) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. At present, there is no effective direct treatment for end-stage liver disease. The only reliable curative therapy is liver transplantation. However, liver transplantation is highly limited by the number of available organs and therefore only available for a minority of patients. In Germany, for example, there are at least 30,000 deaths due to liver failure each year but only 1,000 liver transplantations. The majority of patients is dying while at hospital due to the deterioration of existing liver cirrhosis caused e.g. by infections. And even 50 % of the patients that are on a transplant list are dying while waiting for transplantation. Thus, there is an urgent need for an artificial means of liver detoxification system to facilitate recovery of patients from liver failure without transplantation but also to improve the still limited 3-year survival rate of patients receiving a transplant.