Minnetronix Medical Awarded National Institutes of Health Grant for Proprietary Neurapheresis Product that Removes Blood from Spinal Fluid

Saint Paul, MN—Minnetronix Medical, which partners with companies throughout the world to design, develop and manufacture medical device technology, today announced that it has been awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) granti for continued study of its proprietary Neurapheresis™ Cerebrospinal Fluid Treatment Platform.ii Akin to hemodialysis, the Neurapheresis platform is designed to rapidly remove blood cells and their cytotoxic byproducts that are released into cerebrospinal fluid following an aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).
The presence of blood in the spinal fluid increases the risk of complications such as cerebral vasospasm, edema, hydrocephalus, or stroke. The Neurapheresis System enables expedited removal of blood and blood byproducts from the cerebrospinal fluid. This has been shown to shorten hospital stays, reduce use of hospital resources and improve outcomes for patients, thereby reducing the healthcare economic burden.
The NIH-funded study will take place at the University of Florida Gainesville, M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital. This is the second in a series of clinical studies of Neurapheresis, the first having yielded positive results.
“Rapid removal of the toxins that are released into the cerebrospinal fluid when an aneurysm ruptures could be game changing and improve outcomes for patients who suffer a subarachnoid hemorrhage,” said Christopher Kellner, MD, director of the Intracerebral Hemorrhage Program at Mount Sinai and site investigator of the clinical trial at Mount Sinai. “Winning support from the NIH is another important step to completing the research necessary to evaluate the impact of this treatment strategy.”
“What fantastic validation from the medical community and the NIH that we are able to identify unmet needs and develop meaningful solutions,” said Aaron McCabe, PhD, director of research and development at Minnetronix, who is leading the Neurapheresis project. “The Minnetronix team relied on 25 years of experience to develop the platform — from concept to commercialization. Whole product solutions like this represent an expansion of our traditional offerings and create new ways for us to partner with our customers.”
The grant is the second milestone Minnetronix has announced in a month. Recently, it received FDA clearance for the MindsEye™ Port, an expandable deep brain access system used in neurosurgical procedures, that represents the launch of the company’s first technology platform. Neurapheresis is part of the company’s second platform launch.