By Meg Flippin Benzinga
DETROIT, MICHIGAN - July 18, 2025 (NEWMEDIAWIRE) - When it comes to severe burns, inhalation injuries and septicemia, oftentimes they are associated with destructive hyperinflammation that can lead to a plethora of problems including organ failure and even death. For critically wounded service members and civilian patients, treating those complications requires a multi-prong approach that is often invasive and not always completely effective. Patients who do survive face a long recovery that can include life-long dialysis.
That’s why research and money is being directed at finding new therapies, including a focus on a therapeutic approach in which the body's immune response is modified by treating blood outside the body. With this approach, the destructive hyperinflammation caused by certain overactive immune cells is treated by neutralizing the cells and then returning them to the body in a less active state.
It’s in that context that the Autonomous Reanimation and Evacuation (AREVA) Research Institute was awarded a grant from the United States Department of Defense (DoD). The grant, one of four selected out of 160 total submissions by the 2024 Military Burn Research Program (MBRP), supports a three-year research study that is scheduled to begin in July 2025 with more than $2 million in DoD funding.
SeaStar Medical’s SCD Therapy
The study will explore the application of SeaStar Medical’s Selective Cytopheretic Device (SCD) therapy to reduce hyperinflammation after severe burns, inhalation injury and infection. SeaStar says the award represents a significant step towards the advancement of potential treatments for burn, inhalation injury, and septic patients through the use of the SCD therapy, a therapeutic device designed to neutralize destructive hyperinflammation in order to improve survival in both combat casualties and civilian patients suffering from severe trauma and infection.
Used alongside continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), the SCD therapy is designed to support organ recovery, which may reduce the need for dialysis in patients with severe acute inflammatory conditions and potentially save lives, reports the company.
“In my 25-year research career, this particular award and collaboration with SeaStar Medical has the potential to be one of the most impactful,” said Andriy Batchinsky, MD, principal investigator and founder of AREVA. “It may save the lives of large numbers of patients with infection- and trauma-related lung, kidney, and multi-organ failure.”
The Geneva Foundation will provide research administration and operational support to ensure the success of the program at the AREVA Institute in San Antonio, Texas. The grant will cover the purchase of the SCD therapy from SeaStar Medical for use by AREVA in the research study. SeaStar Medical and AREVA are also exploring expanded applications of SeaStar’s technology beyond the initial study.
“The AREVA Institute is one of only a handful of around the clock intensive care unit laboratories in the world capable of delivering this type of work. This DoD award represents a major vote of confidence, not only for the AREVA Institute, but also the potential of the SCD therapy to play a major role in the care of critically wounded service members,” said Kevin Chung, MD, chief medical officer of SeaStar Medical. “This study will evaluate the ability of the SCD therapy to optimize functional recovery after these types of injuries.”
Already Proving Effective
SeaStar’s device is already being used to treat pediatric acute kidney injury or AKI, after being approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in February 2024. Through clinical trials, it had been shown to cut mortality rates in half and reduce the time patients had to be on dialysis. SeaStar is currently engaged in a trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of its SCD therapy to treat adult AKI. The study has 119 patients enrolled and the company is shooting for a total of 200.
From treating inflammation due to severe burns on the battlefield to acute kidney injuries caused by trauma, SeaStar’s SCD therapy may have broad applications in multiple acute and chronic kidney and cardiovascular diseases, representing patients who today have no FDA-approved options for treating their disease. The treatment is organ and disease-agnostic, which SeaStar says translates to potential economies of scale and value for its customers.
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