NASDAQ: ICU

Our SCD therapy has been awarded six Breakthrough Device Designations (“BDD”) by the FDA. These BDDs cover multiple therapeutic indications for the use of our SCD therapy in adult patients with AKI, CRS awaiting LVAD implantation, hepatorenal syndrome, end stage renal disease (“ESRD”), and systemic inflammatory response while undergoing cardiac surgery. The BDD enables the potential for a speedier pathway to approval and the ability to have more frequent and flexible meetings with FDA.

The inflammatory response is essential to the healing process of critical organs; however, the overactivation of inflammatory cells, which can be triggered by many different bodily insults such as trauma, surgery or infection, can send the body into shock and cause severe damage to a variety of critical organs such as the heart, lungs and kidneys. Central to inflammation are the cells within blood and lymph circulatory systems, called white blood cells (primarily neutrophils and monocytes). In a normal inflammatory response, neutrophils are the first immune cells to arrive at the site and are key to the entire immune response that kills pathogens and promotes tissue repair. These inflammatory cells release chemicals (cytokines) that trigger the immune system to eliminate foreign pathogens or damaged tissue, enhancing the immune response.

If the inflammatory response becomes excessive and dysregulated (referred to as proinflammatory), the inflammatory cells will continue to produce cytokines and other damaging molecules, further enhancing the dysregulated immune response, and altering feedback mechanisms that regulate the immune system. This results in damaging hyperinflammation spreading uncontrollably to other parts of the body, often leading to acute and potentially chronic solid organ dysfunction or failure, including the heart, lung, kidney, liver, and even death. This hyperinflammatory response is also known as the “cytokine storm,” referring to the body’s reaction to the category of small-secreted proteins released by hyperinflammatory cells that affect communication between cells.

Currently, there are no therapeutic options that specifically neutralize the white blood cells that are primarily responsible for the destructive hyperinflammatory response. Clinicians typically address hyperinflammation with therapies that are either immunosuppressive or that target a specific cytokine, both of which are generally suboptimal in the treatment of hyperinflammation. We believe our technology has the potential to overcome limitations in existing anti-inflammatory treatments and address the challenge of selectively targeting activated neutrophils and monocytes.

Clinical and preclinical studies conducted over the last 15 years have demonstrated that our SCD therapy can modulate the degree of activity of proinflammatory cells to help reduce tissue damage and speed the repair and recovery of organ function. Data from our trials demonstrated that the use of our SCD therapy to reverse the cytokine storm in more than 150 pediatric and adult patients with acute kidney injury on CRRT reduced mortality rates by 50%, and of those patients who survived 60 days, none have required dialysis. We believe our SCD therapy has the potential to transform the treatment of acute organ failure in the intensive care unit (“ICU”) and to improve organ function in patients with chronic kidney disease, certain cardiovascular diseases, and other serious inflammatory diseases.

Preclinically, we evaluated our SCD therapy in various animal models representing multiple hyperinflammatory indications, including acute myocardial infarction, intracranial hemorrhage, chronic heart failure, sepsis, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. The animal models demonstrated the inflammatory response and how it was modified by our SCD therapy. We will continue to explore the application of our SCD therapy across a broad range of indications where proinflammatory activated neutrophils and monocytes contribute to disease progression or severity in both acute and chronic indications.

We are leveraging our patent protected and scalable SCD therapy platform to develop proprietary treatments that are organ agnostic and target both acute and chronic indications. The SCD therapy is delivered via an extracorporeal synthetic membrane device that easily integrates into existing CRRT systems that are commonly employed for patients with acute organ injury in hospitals, including in ICUs throughout the United States. It also has the potential to be integrated into kidney dialysis systems for chronic kidney disease patients receiving renal replacement therapy at centers throughout the United States. We believe that the ease of use and broad applicability of the therapy across multiple disease states should enable us to capture a sizable market for our SCD therapy with increasingly favorable economics.

Our senior management team and Board have extensive experience in the healthcare industry, including expertise in regulatory and medical affairs, commercialization and distribution in our initial therapeutic priority areas. We also have assembled a team of well-respected scientific advisors who are experts in the development of our technology and products.

There is a substantial clinical need for safe and effective control of hyperinflammation and we believe that our first-in-class SCD therapy can address the large potential market of over one million patients each year that face life-threatening hyperinflammatory conditions, including organ failure and potential loss of life.

SCD Therapy for Pediatric Patients

We are currently commercializing our first product, QUELIMMUNE, under an HDE that was approved by the FDA on February 21, 2024. QUELIMMUNE is currently the only FDA-approved product for critically ill pediatric patients with life-threatening acute kidney injury (AKI) due to sepsis or a septic condition.

We commenced our first product shipment of QUELIMMUNE in July 2024 and continue to target top-tier pediatric medical facilities for adoption of the QUELIMMUNE therapy. As a condition of the approval, the FDA stipulated that we would need to institute a post approval patient surveillance registry to track certain safety and performance metrics (the "SAVE Surveillance Registry"). This typically requires an Institutional Review Board (“IRB”) review and approval to use QUELIMMUNE therapy at the medical facility, which can lengthen the QUELIMMUNE adoption process. As of December 31, 2025, we had 10 active commercial hospital customers that have completed the process for the SAVE Surveillance Registry and have purchased QUELIMMUNE therapy. Additional customer activations are planned for 2026.

A benefit of the SAVE Surveillance Registry is the opportunity to collect real-world data from the commercial use of QUELIMMUNE therapy. Early results from the first 21 critically ill pediatric patients with life-threatening AKI and sepsis or a septic condition in the commercial setting in the SAVE Surveillance Registry showed no device related safety events with the QUELIMMUNE therapy with 76% of patients surviving through 60 days and 71% surviving through 90 days. We believe these data are on track to validate a 50% reduction in loss of life compared to historical data. Additionally, in December of 2025, based on the safety data from this set of patients, the FDA approved a reduction in the mandatory enrollment size of the SAVE Surveillance Registry from the originally-required 300 patients to only 50 patients. We enrolled the 50th patient of the SAVE Surveillance Registry on March 4, 2026.

We are also evaluating additional clinical development opportunities in children based on unmet medical needs. One such indication is for the use of our SCD therapy for the treatment of systemic inflammatory response in pediatric patients undergoing cardiac surgery, aimed at preventing post-operative complications and adverse outcomes, for which FDA awarded BDD on March 27, 2025.

SCD Therapy for Adult Patients

We are currently conducting a pivotal trial, NEUTRALIZE-AKI, to evaluate the safety and efficacy of our SCD therapy in adults with AKI in the ICU receiving CRRT. The trial’s primary endpoint is a composite of 90-day mortality or dialysis dependency of patients treated with SCD therapy in addition to CRRT as the standard of care, compared with the control group receiving only CRRT standard of care. The trial protocol includes an interim analysis by an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (“DSMB”) at the trial’s 90-day primary endpoint with the first 100 subjects. This pivotal trial is expected to enroll a total of 339 patients and as of March 13, 2026, we had enrolled 178 patients. We anticipate reporting topline clinical trial results and, assuming a successful trial outcome, submission of a Pre-market Approval ("PMA") application in 2027.

We are also evaluating additional clinical development of the SCD therapy in adults based on unmet clinical needs and market opportunity. Our BDD awards by the FDA in multiple therapeutic areas are expected to expedite the clinical development and regulatory review of the SCD therapy for use in the designated patient populations and are the primary focus of our future clinical development decisions. We received our first BDD awards in 2022 with the following additional BDDs in adult patient indications thereafter:

On April 29, 2022, we received a BDD for the use of our SCD in the treatment of immunomodulatory dysregulation in adult patients (18 and older) with AKI, which is expected to accelerate the regulatory approval process for our ongoing pivotal trial.

On September 28, 2023, we received BDD for our SCD for use in patients in the hospital ICU with acute or chronic systolic heart failure and worsening renal function due to cardiorenal syndrome or right ventricular dysfunction awaiting implantation of a left ventricular assist device.

On October 18, 2023, we received BDD designation for our SCD for use with patients in the hospital ICU with AKI and acute on chronic liver failure.

On November 6, 2024, we received BDD for our SCD to treat chronic systemic inflammation in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients who require chronic hemodialysis, also known as chronic dialysis. This is our first BDD in a chronic disease setting.

On March 27, 2025, the FDA awarded a BDD for our SCD therapy for the treatment of systemic inflammatory response in adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery, aimed at preventing post-operative complications and adverse outcomes.

We believe that our SCD therapy is readily applicable for use in other indications as well, which will increase the addressable market for our SCD therapy, but will also require additional clinical studies and FDA approval.

We have pursued patent protection for our SCD therapy as well as other technologies. Our patent portfolio consists of 46 patents and 1 pending patent applications in the U.S. and certain foreign jurisdictions. Of these patents and patent applications, 21 patents and 1 patent applications are owned exclusively by us, and 25 patents are co-owned with the University of Michigan (“UOM”). The UOM has granted us an exclusive worldwide, royalty-bearing license to the UOM’s interest in all of the co-owned patents and applications. This license permits us to commercialize our SCD therapy in all human therapeutic indications. For more information, see “Intellectual Property” below.

Our Approach - The SCD Therapeutic Device

Our SCD therapy is designed as a disease-modifying device that neutralizes overactive immune cells and stops the cytokine storm that yields destructive hyperinflammation and creates a cascade of events that wreak havoc in the patient’s body. In many serious acute illnesses, a hyperinflammatory response occurs as a well-defined coordinated sequential response. Neutrophils are the first responders followed by monocytes. The monocytes, as they egress into tissue also follow another sequence of differentiation into tissue macrophages. The first are proinflammatory macrophages, followed by patrolling, reparative macrophages.

This complex highly coordinated process is critical for host defense and tissue repair but needs to be tightly regulated by the body’s inflammatory signaling and cellular apoptosis. If it is not tightly regulated and begins to spiral out of control, further tissue destruction may occur when uncontrolled hyperinflammation leads to degradative processes with worsening tissue or organ function. If this excessive systemic inflammation is severe and prolonged, multi-organ failure, including cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, hepatic and neurologic dysfunction may occur, resulting in poor clinical outcomes. Prior therapeutic approaches to block soluble mediator targets, such as cytokines or free radicals have not proven successful. We believe that our SCD approach, which targets only highly activated cells, is a potentially transformative, if not disruptive, therapeutic approach to a range of acute and chronic inflammatory disorders.

Our SCD therapy is an extracorporeal synthetic membrane device designed to bind activated leukocytes (neutrophils and monocytes) when integrated into an existing CRRT circuit in conjunction with the use of regional citrate anticoagulation (“RCA”). The SCD is simply added to the standard CRRT circuit that uses RCA and is placed immediately following the standard hemofilter cartridge. Highly inflamed blood from the patient passes through the CRRT system and hemofilter, and into the SCD. In the low calcium environment mediated by RCA, the inflamed cells in the blood are modulated towards a less inflammatory state. Upon exiting our SCD, calcium is replaced and the blood is returned to the patient’s body.

Our SCD therapy delivers its therapeutic benefit by attenuating the excessive inflammatory response of activated neutrophils and monocytes. Uninterrupted, the excessive inflammatory response progresses to multi-organ failure, with documented increases in both morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients. Our initial approved product, QUELIMMUNE, is focused on critically ill pediatric AKI patients on CRRT. Our SCD therapy leverages the existing footprint of CRRT pump systems in ICUs today, as well as the growing use and adoption of RCA. Citrate is used to bind the free ionized calcium within the extracorporeal circuit which is needed to impact the neutrophils and monocytes. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2020 demonstrated that while the use of RCA has the same mortality profile as heparin, RCA has been shown to be more effective in preserving filter life and is used to create the low calcium environment for our SCD therapy, which impacts the white blood cells interaction with the SCD membrane leading to the reduction in inflammation.

Mechanism of Action

The mechanism of action of our SCD therapy consists of three elements: (i) selectively binding activated neutrophils and monocytes on our SCD biomimetic membrane (ii) deactivating the activated neutrophils by maintaining a specified ionized calcium level within our SCD, and (iii) shifting proinflammatory monocytes to a lower inflammatory profile. Our SCD utilizes clinically validated RCA protocols to lower the ionized calcium level, which not only prevents clotting within the circuit but also immuno-modulates the activated neutrophils and monocytes, which are then returned to the patient. Calcium is then infused into the blood line returning to the patient from the SCD, thereby maintaining normal calcium levels in the patient throughout the process.

Our SCD and Neutrophils

Calcium plays a critical role in many biological processes. In the case of neutrophils, calcium can have a profound effect on their activity. It has been shown that lowering calcium to critical levels in the regional circuit can lead to higher levels of neutrophil apoptosis (deactivation). Our SCD is designed to selectively bind the most highly activated neutrophils, associated with hyperinflammation, and in a low ionized calcium (“iCa”) environment, the activated neutrophils are deactivated, which has the downstream effect of reducing hyperinflammation. These deactivated cells are then released back into circulation, resulting in no downstream immunosuppression, immunodepletion, leukopenia or neutropenia. When neutrophils are in homeostasis, the normal half-life is six to eight hours, but in a hyperinflammatory state, neutrophil apoptosis is delayed, leading to increased numbers of activated neutrophils in circulation. Through clinical and preclinical studies, our SCD has been shown to selectively sequester and deactivate the most highly activated neutrophils, allowing the body to restore neutrophil homeostasis.

Our SCD and Monocytes

We believe the role of circulating monocytes in systemic inflammation and organ-specific injury is becoming more appreciated by healthcare professionals. Similar to calcium’s effect on neutrophils, calcium also has an important influence on monocyte activity. A high percentage of the circulating monocyte-derived macrophage subtypes (M1 proinflammatory versus M2 patrolling, reparative) have been shown to influence the degree of acute organ injury and chronic organ dysfunction. In in-vitro testing, we have shown that, in a low iCa environment, our SCD membrane binds the proinflammatory monocytes within the blood more selectively and lowers their inflammatory activity. This selective binding and immunomodulation has also been shown in human clinical trials and results in fewer proinflammatory circulating monocytes. It is important to note that our SCD does not sequester 100% of these monocytes as they are important to maintaining immune homeostasis. Similar to neutrophils above, immunomodulated monocytes are also released back into circulation following treatment, resulting in no downstream immunosuppression, immunodepletion, leukopenia or neutropenia. We call the SCD mechanistic process of binding these cells, deactivating them, and releasing them back into circulation, a “catch-and-release” system.

Histological evaluation of our SCD

Microscopy of our SCD after being used for patient treatment demonstrated the binding of leukocytes on the outer surface of the hollow fiber membranes of the cartridge along the blood flow path within the extracorporeal circuit. Flow cytometry confirmed that they were the most activated neutrophils and monocytes (see below)

Above image: Activated leukocytes adherence to the membranes. Light micrograph stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E). Panel A: Low-power micrograph showing adherent cells around each fiber (160x). Panel B and Panel C: Higher-power micrographs showing the clustering of bound leukocytes (400x). Panel D: High-power micrograph displaying predominance of neutrophils and monocytes in the adherent cell clusters (1600x)

The unique blood path within the SCD mimics capillary flow, providing a more stable microenvironment for the neutrophils and monocytes, enabling the cells to bind to the outer surface of the hollow fibers long enough for the critically low iCa to have its impact. This is then followed by cells being released back into circulation. (i.e. – “catch and release”).

Our Market Opportunity

We are a commercial-stage healthcare company pursuing multiple indications, both small and large market opportunities, with our SCD therapy. Our clinical data was initially used to support an HDE submission to the FDA to request approval to market our SCD to hospitals and clinicians with pediatric patients suffering from AKI. Our clinical data has also been used to support the initiation of a pivotal study that would support a PMA submission in adult AKI which has an estimated incidence of approximately 200,000 patients annually in the United States. In the long term, based on preliminary clinical evidence, we intend to expand the application of our SCD technology to additional indications with large patient populations, including acute respiratory distress syndrome, chronic dialysis, cardiorenal syndrome and hepatorenal syndrome and others.

Our Initial Market Opportunity in Acute Kidney Injury

With over 5 million ICU admissions in the U.S. each year, and approximately 50-60% of these patients experiencing AKI, AKI has increasingly received the attention of healthcare professionals and academic publications that elucidate the devastating clinical and financial impact of what is most-often a multi-organ syndrome. In fact, a 2017 study by Samuel A. Silver and Glenn M. Chertow titled “The Economic Consequences of Acute Kidney Injury” stated hospital costs associated with AKI in the U.S. are between $5.4 billion and $20 billion per year.

The kidneys are a silent killer within medical triage. They do not present clear symptoms or tell the body they are suffering like other major organs such as the heart or lungs. For example, one does not feel pain with a “kidney attack” and symptoms are delayed until irreversible damage may have already occurred. Kidneys also refrain from revealing the impact to the rest of body and organs (and vice-versa) and often are not considered systemically for co-treatment.

Globally consistent criteria for diagnosing AKI have recently emerged with the RIFLE classification (Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss of kidney function, and End-stage kidney disease), an international consensus classification for AKI staging and diagnosing guidelines introduced in 2004, the Acute Kidney Injury Network staging system in 2007, and finally the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes, AKI Staging and Diagnosing Guidelines published in 2012. These sources have helped clinicians to improve recognition, staging, diagnosing and subsequent documentation of less obvious cases of AKI secondary diagnoses. While our initial market is focused on AKI patients on CRRT, future indications will likely benefit from improved characterization and diagnosis of patients.

As a result, demand for ICU renal replacement therapy is growing. CRRT is the newest AKI dialysis modality in the market, first becoming available in 1997, and according to Fortune Business Insights, it is estimated that it has grown to a $986 million global market ($354 million market in the U.S.) as of 2019. The two largest operators in the CRRT market by revenue are Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. and Vantive, Inc. (formerly a business of Baxter International), which represent over 80% of the market today in the U.S.

Since 2010, a significant amount of data has been published to quantify the clinical and financial impact of AKI, resulting in a broadening AKI treatment “boom” beyond dialysis to areas of diagnostics, complementary therapies, and pharmacoeconomics. As hospital administrators and government officials gain an increasing understanding of the impact and burden of AKI, we believe that attention will continue to grow. According to Hobson in his article titled “Cost and Mortality Associated with Postoperative Acute Kidney Injury,” a 2015 study of 50,314 patients (over 11 years) found that upon greater scrutiny, AKI was found in 39% of post-surgical patients, and 19% of patients had stage 2 or 3 AKI with an average incremental cost of $29,800 per patient. Additionally, with historical mortality rates of approximately 50%, treating AKI is of increasing interest to clinicians, hospitals, and product manufacturers alike.

The AKI patient population is growing on average 6.9% per year according to the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project commissioned by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a U.S. federal agency. According to Massicotte and Azarniouch in their 2015 work titled “Acute Kidney Injury in the Intensive Care Unit: Risk Factors and Outcomes of Physician Recognition Compared with KDIGO Classification,” around 80% of moderate or severe cases of AKI are not diagnosed and documented, suggesting the U.S. AKI patient population is higher than the estimated 6 million patients annually. The pediatric population for AKI patients in the U.S. on CRRT is estimated to be less than 8,000 patients per year, which is a substantially small subset of the combined 6 million AKI adult and pediatric patient population.

AKI patients need new and effective solutions, and hospitals continue to search for and evaluate new products. For a product to succeed in the AKI space, it must demonstrate and achieve clear and significant clinical benefit to patients, while providing positive financial incentives for hospitals to generate revenue and profitability.

Our Growth Strategies

Key elements of our growth strategy include innovating and expanding our applications through clinical trials; differentiation through medical education; business development and out-licensing activities, and scaling production with manufacturing partners. We expect to employ several core growth strategies:

Execute on clinical plan through key relationships: Our initial focus on the treatment of AKI in adults and pediatrics is supported by our long and established relationship with the UOM, which licenses to us certain key technology underpinning our novel immunomodulatory therapy, as well as other leading academic hospitals and institutions throughout the U.S. Such relationships enable us to expand and refine the design and execution of our clinical plans with a more targeted outcome and objectives. On February 21, 2024, we received the FDA HDE Approval Order, which allows sales of QUELIMMUNE to qualified healthcare facilities. In February 2023, we received FDA IDE approval for the adult AKI indication. Our patented and cell-directed SCD therapy has received the FDA BDD for use in adult AKI patients, which is expected to accelerate and streamline the regulatory approval process prior to the commercial launch of our product candidates. On September 28, 2023, we received BDD for our SCD therapy for use with patients in the hospital ICU with acute or chronic systolic heart failure and worsening renal function due to cardiorenal syndrome or right ventricular dysfunction awaiting implantation of a left ventricular assist device. On October 18, 2023, we received a BDD for our SCD therapy for use with patients in the hospital ICU with AKI and acute on chronic liver failure. On November 6, 2024, we received BDD for our SCD therapy to treat chronic systemic inflammation in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients who require chronic hemodialysis, also known as chronic dialysis. On March 27, 2025, the FDA awarded two BDDs for our SCD therapy for the treatment of systemic inflammatory response, one in adults and one in pediatric patients, undergoing cardiac surgery, aimed at preventing post-operative complications and adverse outcomes. We have been granted six BDDs by the FDA for the SCD device, each of which is expected to expedite the clinical development and regulatory review of the SCD therapy for use in the designated patient population.

Differentiation through medical education: We intend to dedicate resources to educate physicians, hospital clinicians and other decision makers in the medical communities on the role of neutrophils and monocytes in both acute and chronic indications, and the therapeutic benefit of controlling and modulating excessive inflammatory response. We intend to focus our marketing strategies not only on the therapeutic capabilities of our technology, but also the economic consequences of hyper-inflammation in the current standard of care and treatment infrastructure and highlight the differentiating factors of our SCD therapy that can provide a cost-effective solution.

Business development and out-licensing activities: We intend to explore and pursue business development opportunities with major medical and pharmaceutical companies to establish partnerships, including outbound licensing arrangements. We believe that our clinical experience and depth, combined with our understanding of the scientific mechanism of our SCD and our regulatory submissions around the world, can drive value for our partners and reduce their market risk. We believe our partners will benefit from insight into other SCD trials around the world as well as data generation that is being conducted by our trials. We believe that our SCD therapy has the potential to apply to multiple indications. By pursuing and establishing business relationships with partners who may have strong capabilities beyond AKI, such as the markets for ESRD and respiratory distress syndrome, we may be able to expand our solutions to the chronic disease setting.

Scaling production with manufacturing partners: As we progress through our planned clinical trials and the commercial launch of our QUELIMMUNE in pediatrics as well as potential additional adult indications for our SCD therapy if FDA approval is received, we are focused on identifying and securing various suppliers and manufacturing partners to scale production in response to the expected demand for our solutions. We continue to negotiate with suppliers of raw materials, including cartridges, tubing and other components, to establish redundancies and alternative sources to mitigate interruptions in the supply chain in the future. In addition, we may also explore strategic relationships with partners who can provide sources of raw materials while collaborating with us on the marketing and distribution of our product candidates.

Our Clinical Development of the SCD Product Candidates

The following disclosure summarizes the key clinical studies in which our SCD product candidates (QUELIMMUNE for pediatrics) have been evaluated. All trials and studies below are conducted under IDEs approved by the FDA.

We submitted an HDE application for our SCD for the treatment of pediatric patients with acute kidney injury undergoing Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT) to the FDA in June 2022. We obtained an Approvable Letter for the HDE in October 2023. On February 21, 2024, we announced a final Approval Order for the HDE, which allows us to commercialize QUELIMMUNE.

Clinical Progression

NEUTRALIZE-AKI Design

We are actively enrolling and treating patients in a pivotal clinical trial of the SCD for the treatment of AKI in adults, an indication awarded BDD by the FDA in April 2022. This trial (NCT05758077) is a 339 subject, prospective, multi-center, open-label, randomized, two-arm comparative pivotal study conducted in the United States. NEUTRALIZE-AKI is designed to assess a composite endpoint of both mortality or dialysis dependency at Day 90 (see schematic figure below). The control arm will consist of adults with AKI who undergo CRRT in hospital ICUs who typically have estimated mortality of nearly 50%. Among those with AKI who undergo CRRT and survive hospitalization, nearly one in four (25%) usually require long-term dialysis. The study design was published in the journal Nephron (Yessayan et al., Nephron. 2023 Jul 13. doi: 10.1159/000531880). The study title is also being referred to as NEUTRALIZE-AKI (NEUTRophil and monocyte deactivation via seLective cytopheretIc device – a randomiZEd clinical trial in Acute Kidney Injury).

Current Trial Status

We submitted the NEUTRALIZE-AKI protocol to the FDA on January 6, 2023, and attained approval to proceed in March 2023. We began enrollment in the second quarter of 2023, and we anticipate the enrollment period to last up to 48 months. As of March 21, 2026, we have enrolled 181 patients into the NEUTRALIZE-AKI study. On April 29, 2022, we received a BDD for the use of our SCD in the treatment of immunomodulatory dysregulation in adult patients (18 and older) with AKI, which is expected to aid our discussions related to the regulatory review and PMA process for NEUTRALIZE-AKI.

Additional clinical studies under IDEs include cardiorenal syndrome and hepatorenal syndrome. We have also conducted exploratory clinical research with the University of Michigan to define the patient population for potential treatment with SCD product candidates, and any future studies will be based upon initial clinical data collected in these studies.

Other Clinical Studies in AKI

The table below lists the major studies conducted in AKI to date with our SCD. Except for SCD-003 and SCD-006, our clinical studies have not included a randomized control arm.

Study Name

Objective

Primary Endpoint

Study Population

Total Enrolled

Device-Related SAEs

Key Outcomes

China Study

AKI Safety, Mortality and Device Integrity Study

Safety and in-hospital mortality

AKI

N=9

None

The mortality for the case-matched controls was 77% (7/9), vs 22% (2/9) in the SCD treatment group (P=0.027) (Ding F, et al. ASAIO J. 2011;57(5):426-432).

ARF-002

AKI Safety, Mortality and Device Integrity Study

Safety and 60-day survival

AKI

N=35

None

Death from any cause at day 60 was 31.4% (11/35). Renal recovery, defined as dialysis independence, was observed in all of the surviving subjects at day 60. (Standard of care therapy is associated with a >50% 60-day mortality (Tumlin JA, et al. Semin Dial. 2013;26(5):616-623).

SCD-003

To determine the difference between SCD therapy and CKRT alone in survival

Day 60 survival

AKI

N=134

None

This was a Phase 3A randomized controlled trial. Due to a nationwide calcium shortage during the study, most patients received ineffective therapy as regional ionized calcium (iCa) levels couldn’t be maintained at the target range. This resulted in no differences in outcomes in the intent-to-treat patient population. However, the subset of patients who achieved the target iCa ranges showed a significant clinical benefit in a per-protocol (PP) analysis. In this group, the 60-day mortality rate was 16% in the SCD-treated group compared to 41% in the control group. Furthermore, the composite endpoint of mortality and/or dialysis dependency at day 60 was lower in the PP SCD-treated group compared to the control group (16% vs. 58%, respectively, p = 0.01) (Tumlin JA, et al. PLOS One. 2015;10(8):e0132482). See additional details below on the SCD-003 study

SCD-PED-01

To determine safety and efficacy of SCD therapy + CKRT in pediatric patients

Day 60 survival and 60-day dialysis dependency

AKI

N=16

None

75% of patients (12/16) survived to hospital discharge. 100% of surviving patients (12/12) were dialysis independent by day 60 (Goldstein SL, et al. Kidney Int Rep. 2020;6(3):775-784; Goldstein SL, et al. Kidney Medicine.2024). See additional details below on the SCD-PED studies.

SCD-PED-02

To assess the safety of SCD in children with AKI weighing ≥10 kg and ≤20 kg

Safety

AKI

N=6

None

5/6 (83%) patients survived to ICU discharge and all surviving patients were dialysis-independent by day 60 (Goldstein SL, et al. Kidney Medicine. 2024). See additional details below on the SCD-PED studies.

SCD-005

To assess the safety and efficacy of SCD in AKI or ARDS patients associated with COVID-19 infections

Mortality at day 60; dialysis dependency at day 60; ventilation at day 28

AKI or ARDS after COVID-19

N=22

None

SCD-treated patients had a reduction in 60-day mortality of 50% (11/22), vs 81% (13/16) in a contemporary control group from a concurrent prospective CKRT registry (P=0.102). The subjects who received >96 hours of SCD treatment, per protocol, had a further reduction in mortality to 31% (5/16) (P<0.012) (Yessayan LT, et al. Crit Care Explor. 2022;4(5):e0694).

SCD-003: Additional Details

SCD-003 was a controlled, randomized, and multicenter clinical trial that was initiated in September 2011 and terminated in September 2013 under an FDA-approved IDE. For this trial, the control group received standard CRRT with regional citrate anticoagulation (“RCA”) and the SCD-treated group received up to seven days of SCD therapy. The study was sponsored by the Predecessor with the support of a third-party contract research organization.

The primary objective of the study was to determine if the SCD, when used in conjunction with CRRT, results in clinical and statistical improvement in mortality rate based on all causes through Day 60. Secondary objectives included an assessment of renal replacement therapy dependency at Day 60, mortality at Day 28, the number of ventilator free days at Day 28, and the mortality of the subset of patients with severe sepsis at Day 60. An overall two-sided 0.05 level of significance at 80% power was used to calculate a sample size of 344 patients, assuming a mortality rate of 50% for the control group and 35% for the treatment group. Adaptive design and interim analysis were planned at the mid-point of enrollment (i.e., 172 patients). Several exploratory biomarkers were also compared between the control and treatment groups, including urine output, serum levels of elastase, cytokines, and total absolute white blood cell, neutrophil and platelet counts throughout treatment. Patients receiving care in the ICU of each participating hospital were randomized to intensive care treatment for patients undergoing CRRT or CRRT + SCD. Each participating clinical site used their established RCA protocol for the CRRT + SCD circuits (treatment group) and for the CRRT only (control group). The recommended calcium (iCal) level (measured post SCD) in the CRRT and SCD blood circuit was specified to be between 0.25 and 0.40 mmol/L. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were similar to the previous IDE multicenter pilot clinical study except for an age range of 8-80 years and body weight of over 135 kilograms. Once the patient met all eligibility criteria, including being on CRRT for a minimum of four hours, but no longer than 24 hours, and had signed an informed consent, the subject was randomized in a 1:1 allocation utilizing a random permuted block design into either the control or treatment group, stratified by study center and the presence of severe sepsis.

During the second quarter of the enrollment period, a national calcium shortage occurred in the United States due to certain FDA-related quality manufacturing issues at major U.S. suppliers. At the time of the shortage a total of 134 patients had been enrolled in 21 United Stated Medical centers. Due to the reliance of the SCD on a narrow intra-circuit iCal range for functional efficacy, there was a concern that patients randomized to the SCD were not receiving effective therapy due to insufficient iCal levels. Enrollment was paused on May 24, 2013, to assess the clinical impact of the calcium shortage on study endpoints and the interim analysis was performed early using data from the 134 patients enrolled. The shortage of calcium infusion solutions resulted in a tendency to minimize citrate infusion rates. Accordingly, the iCal levels within the blood circuit tended to be above the recommended range of 0.25 to 0.40 mmol/L. No significant differences were noted between the control and treatment groups in terms of baseline characteristics. Of the 134 patients in the analysis, 69 received CRRT alone and 65 received CRRT + SCD therapy. No statistically significant difference was found between the treated and control patients with a 60-day mortality of 39% (27/69) and 36% (21/59), respectively. No statistically significant difference was found between the SAEs of the control and treatment groups. None of the SAEs were considered “definitely” device related per the principal investigator. The amount of time patients in both the control and treatment groups were maintained in the recommended iCal range (0.23 - 0.40 mmol/L), as specified in the study protocol, was substantially lower than expected. Of the 134 patients enrolled in the SCD-003 protocol at the time of the interim analysis, 19 SCD patients (CRRT + SCD) and 31 control patients (CRRT alone) were maintained in the protocol’s recommended range for greater or equal to 90% of the therapy time. The study was subsequently terminated.

No statistically significant difference was found between the SAEs of the control and treatment groups. The study reported 71 SAEs in the control group (40 of the 63 patients) and 80 SAEs in the SCD treatment group (45 of the 69 patients). The most frequent categories of SAEs were infections and infestations as well as cardiac, respiratory, thoracic and mediastinal disorders. None of the SAEs were considered “definitely” related to the SCD device per the principal investigator. Overall adverse events did not differ between the treatment and control groups in the intent to treat analysis.

Among the per-protocol (PP) cohort of patients who achieved the recommended iCal range, the composite of death or dialysis dependency at 60 days was observed in 16% (03/19) of SCD-treated subjects versus 58% (18/31) of control subjects. The incidence of serious adverse events did not differ between the treated and control groups.

SCD-PED-01 and 02 Studies – Additional Details

A multi-center, prospective pilot study SCD-PED-01 was undertaken to assess the safety and efficacy of our SCD in pediatric patients with AKI (weighing at least 20 kg) being treated with continuous kidney replacement therapy with RCA. The primary objective of the study was to evaluate the safety of up to seven consecutive 24-hour treatments of our SCD. The secondary objective was to evaluate the efficacy of up to seven consecutive 24-hour SCD treatments on all-cause mortality and dialysis dependency at Day 28 and Day 60. This study was sponsored by the Predecessor with the support of a third-party contract research organization.

Sixteen patients (eight male and eight female) were enrolled in the study at four United States pediatric medical centers, which ran from December 2016 through February 2020. The most common diagnosis leading to ICU admission was septic shock followed by, in diminishing order, pneumonia, rhabdomyolysis, pulmonary hypertension, hemolytic uremic syndrome, encephalomyelitis, disseminated adenoviral infection, cardiac arrest, acute respiratory failure and acute liver failure.

Twelve of the 16 patients survived (75%) to hospital discharge (versus historical control of 50%) and none of the 12 patients required dialysis at 60 days (versus historical control of 15% to 20%). There were 14 SAEs that occurred in fourteen patients in the study. None of the SAEs were device related.

A similar study known as SCD-PED-02 was undertaken in pediatric patients weighing between 10 and 20 kg. The study enrolled 6 patients (proposed maximum of up to 10 patients). 5 of the 6 (83%) patients survived to ICU discharge and all surviving patients were dialysis-independent by Day 60.

A combined pooled analysis of both the PED-01 and PED-02 studies (N=22 total) demonstrated a survival rate of ~77% at Day 60 in pediatric patients weighing at least 10 kg. This data was published in the journal Kidney Medicine in February 2024.

Study in Cardiorenal Syndrome Patients

Cardiorenal syndrome (“CRS”) is a clinical disorder in which therapy to relieve the congestive symptoms of chronic heart failure is limited by a decline in renal function. Up to one-third of patients with acute decompensated chronic heart failure admitted into a hospital in the United States present with this disorder and this condition is increasing in incidence. Once hospitalized, these patients are treated with a high dose of intravenous diuretics to relieve persistent congestion. The use of diuretics, however, frequently results in worsening renal function, progression of heart failure and death. Immune dysregulation plays a key role in cardiorenal syndrome.

We are actively enrolling patients in a clinical trial of our SCD therapy for the treatment of adult patients with acute or chronic systolic heart failure with worsening renal function due to CRS or severe right ventricular failure awaiting LVAD Implantation, an indication awarded BDD by the FDA in September 2023. This trial (NCT03836482) is a 20 subject, multi-center, open-label, feasibility study conducted in the United States. The study is designed to assess safety and a number of endpoints including mortality, the occurrence of acute myocardial infarction, or the need for continuous IV vasopressor support amongst others. Of note, SCD therapy in this study will be delivered for 4 hours a day for up to 6 consecutive days. This regimen is distinct from previous trials of our SCD therapy, all of which used continuous delivery for 24 hours a day.

Chronic Applications in Inflammatory Disorders and Corresponding Studies at the UOM

We are evaluating the safety and efficacy of our SCD in preliminary clinical trials that may lead to applications for our SCD in additional patient populations. The following are examples of our ongoing efforts to identify additional patient populations that may benefit from treatment with our SCD.

Pilot Feasibility Trial of SCD Therapy in ESRD Patients

The SCD therapy was evaluated in a cohort of 15 end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on chronic hemodialysis. The therapy promoted a shift in monocytes from a predominantly proinflammatory to a reparative anti-inflammatory phenotype for up to two weeks. Adverse events or serious adverse events (SAEs) were minimal during SCD treatment and RCA, with four of the 13 patients experiencing adverse events. None of these adverse events were definitively linked to SCD therapy.

Pilot Safety Trial of SCD Therapy in Cardiorenal Syndrome Patients

The CRS clinical trial (NEUTRALIZE-CRS) is a safety and efficacy dose escalation study in 20 patients that was designed to evaluate whether CRS, a disease with a dismal prognosis and currently ineffective therapy, will improve cardiac and renal (production of urine) functions after SCD therapy. In the study, an improvement of cardiac function is measured by the rate of ejection fraction, which is the percentage of blood leaving the heart each time it contracts. An improvement of renal function is measured by serum creatinine and blood urine nitrogen (two common biomarkers to assess renal function) levels. In addition, a variety of other biomarkers will also be measured. The effect of the SCD on cardiac function was recently demonstrated in a first-in-human case report of a 71-year-old male patient with cardiorenal syndrome including severe heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and was deemed ineligible for cardiac transplantation or LVAD due to worsening renal function (WRF) and right ventricular dysfunction. The patient was treated with the SCD and effectively bridged to LVAD and demonstrated proof-of-concept for an innovative approach to the treatment of CRS using our device. These initial results now provide important feasibility data for a follow-on study to undertake a controlled randomized clinical trial to evaluate the clinical efficacy of our SCD in CRS patients that have failed ultrafiltration therapy. Based on this data, our SCD recently received BDD for CRS in October 2023. These results were recently published in the journal PLOS One in April 2023 and an additional perspective article was published in the journal European Journal of Heart Failure in February 2024.

Pilot Safety Trial of SCD Therapy Hepatorenal Syndrome (HRS) Patients

Hepatorenal syndrome is characterized by an abrupt deterioration of kidney function, driven by a hyperinflammatory process in patients with advanced liver cirrhosis, and is associated with an unacceptably high mortality. Without treatment, the prognosis for patients with hepatorenal syndrome is poor with most dying within weeks of the onset of renal failure. In fact, the mortality rate for patients with severe acute or chronic liver failure with four or more organ failures at 28 days is 100%. Approximately 700,000 cases of hepatorenal syndrome are reported in the U.S. annually. In 2019 the economic burden for hepatorenal syndrome hospitalization was estimated at $4.2 billion.

The NCT04898010 study is an investigator-initiated pilot study to assess the safety and efficacy of the SCD in treating up to 10 ICU patients with AKI and HRS Type I. The study aims to understand the effect of 7 days of treatment with the SCD on white blood cells in the bloodstream of patients with hepatorenal syndrome and its impact on blood circulation and kidney function. Two patients with type 1 hepatorenal syndrome have been treated to date in this study. Positive clinical outcomes were seen in both cases - one patient with hepatorenal syndrome due to acute alcoholic hepatitis was alive at day 90 after seven days of SCD treatment and undergoing liver transplantation evaluation, and the other patient with hepatorenal syndrome due to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH had a successful liver transplantation 6 days after SCD therapy ended. This suggested a role of SCD immunomodulation to treat acute or chronic liver failure, regardless of the etiology, as a bridge to evaluation or successful intervention for liver transplantation. Both of these cases were recently published in the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs Journal in August of this year (Yessayan et al., ASAIO J. 2023., doi: 10.1097/MAT.0000000000002033). This led to the FDA granting the SCD a BDD for HRS in October 2023.

Pilot Safety Trial of SCD Therapy in Myocardial Ischemia in End-Stage Renal Disease Patients on Chronic Hemodialysis

A major cause of death in patients on chronic dialysis is due to cardiovascular disease. Novel interventions need to be identified and tested to ameliorate the high morbidity and mortality of myocardial disease in these patients. Multiple hemodynamic and inflammatory factors contribute to the elevated risk of cardiac disease in chronic hemodialysis patient populations. Hemodialysis treatment is associated with repetitive ischemic events, or myocardial stunning, and is identified with regional wall motion abnormalities on echocardiograms. This repetitive ischemic stress results in progressive damage resulting in declines in left ventricular ejection fraction and risk for sudden cardiac death. Both acute and chronic inflammation and its cellular immunologic effector, the activated monocyte, are central to the accelerated cardiovascular disease in patients with chronic end-stage renal disease.

A pilot safety and efficacy study in 10 patients to evaluate the reduction in myocardial stunning events in hemodialysis patients is planned at the UOM. The primary outcome is expected to measure the change in regional wall abnormalities identified on an echocardiogram. Initial results are expected to provide important feasibility data for a follow-on study to undertake a controlled randomized clinical trial to evaluate the clinical efficacy of our SCD in myocardial stunning hemodialysis patients.

Suppliers

We procure conventional components such as tubing sets, clamps, fittings, and labels from various suppliers. These components are then used in our assembly of SCD clinical kits. Critical components are procured from suppliers that have been approved and qualified through our supplier management program. Fresenius Medical Care North America (“FMCNA”) is the current supplier of the cartridges used in our SCD.

In March 2022, we entered into a supply agreement (the “Supply Agreement”) with an FMCNA affiliate, Fresenius USA Marketing, Inc. (“FUSA”), to supply certain cartridges at an agreed amount per case for use in our SCD product, including in our upcoming clinical trial and any additional clinical trials. We may resell the cartridges as part of the SCD system under our HDE approval, pursuant to an Emergency Use Authorization application as well as a future PMA-approved product. Either party may terminate the Supply Agreement for uncured material breach or for the insolvency of the other party. In addition, either party may terminate the Supply Agreement if in the reasonable opinion of legal counsel for either party, any future changes in federal or state law or regulations make any portion of the Supply Agreement invalid or illegal and the parties are not able to agree on mutually acceptable addendum to the Supply Agreement. We have agreed to indemnify FUSA against certain third-party claims.

In December 2024, we entered into the Second Amendment to the initial Supply Agreement, which extended the Supply Agreement through December 31, 2027, updated a part number as well as clarified that FMCNA has 90 days to provide notice to us in the event that FUSA intends to switch the fibers within the SCD as well as the first right of refusal to be the exclusive distributor of the SCD in the United States. In addition to the Supply Agreement with FUSA, we are developing a second source for both adult and pediatric cartridges, which will enable us to better manage potential supply disruptions.

Additionally, use of the SCD in hospital settings requires the administration of RCA and calcium replacement into CRRT circuitry for safe and effective use. Both components are intravenous (“IV”) solutions, which are commonly stocked by hospital systems. However, there are limited manufacturers/suppliers of these IV solutions nationwide, and any supply chain disruptions may have detrimental effects to the utilization of CRRT, and subsequently, use of commercial QUELIMMUNE or the adult SCD in clinical studies.

Distribution

The Supply Agreement contains a provision granting FUSA a right of first refusal for the first three years after regulatory approval of our SCD product candidate to distribute the adult SCD products in the United States. If during such period, we elect to promote and sell the SCD through distributors, we will be required to provide FUSA with a right of first refusal to be our exclusive distributor of the SCD in the United States and its territories, provided that the SCD is not promoted or sold in a manner that is incompatible with any devices manufactured and/or sold by FUSA or its affiliates.

On December 27, 2022, we entered into a license and distribution agreement with Nuwellis. We appointed Nuwellis as our exclusive distributor for the sale and distribution of SCD product throughout the United States once we received written authorization from the FDA to market our SCD for pediatric use pursuant to our HDE application. In May 2024, we provided notice to Nuwellis that Nuwellis had breached the Distribution Agreement and that the Distribution Agreement would terminate effective August 18, 2024. Nuwellis disputed the validity of the termination and, on October 20, 2024, we entered into the Settlement Agreement with Nuwellis, pursuant to which we agreed to pay Nuwellis an aggregate of $900,000 payable in three installments through December 31, 2025. As of December 31, 2025, we fulfilled all of our obligations to Nuwellis and have hired sales and marketing employees focused on the commercialization of QUELIMMUNE into the U.S. market.

Third-Party Reimbursement

We anticipate that coverage and reimbursement by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS") and private payors will be necessary for most adult patients and health care providers to pay for our treatments, particularly in the applications of continuous renal replacement therapy for dialysis access and the treatment of hyperinflammatory conditions, including AKI. Accordingly, future sales of our products will depend substantially, both domestically and abroad, on reimbursement by government authorities, private health coverage insurers and other third-party payors. Our strategy around reimbursement focuses on achieving alignment and agreement from CMS on coding and payment pathways; both are critical to influencing and achieving optimal reimbursement payment from private payor sources. Therefore, we continue to develop a comprehensive reimbursement strategy including CMS, private payors and other key stakeholders to ensure a clear and sustainable reimbursement path for all SCD product opportunities.

We are pursuing a regulatory reimbursement strategy to ensure separate Medicare payment for our SCD at an appropriate price. The regulatory strategy includes engaging CMS political and career staff directly on coverage, payment and coding followed by submission of formal applications in these areas once FDA approval is obtained. It is difficult to predict what CMS will decide with respect to coverage and reimbursement for fundamentally novel products. See “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Business Operations — Should our products be approved for commercialization, lack of third-party coverage and reimbursement for our devices could delay or limit their adoption.”

Intellectual Property

We currently have multiple U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications that protect our proprietary technologies. We strive to protect the proprietary technologies that we believe are important to our business. We have and will continue to seek patent protection for our SCD product and related technologies, as well as for any future products. In addition to seeking patent protection, we also rely on trade secrets to protect aspects of our business that are not amenable to, or that we do not consider appropriate for, patent protection. We also rely on know-how, confidentiality agreements, license agreements and other agreements to establish and protect our proprietary rights. Our success depends in large part on our ability to protect our proprietary technology, including our SCD technologies, and to operate without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties.

The term of individual patents depends on the legal term of the patents in the countries in which they are obtained. In most countries in which we file, the patent term is 20 years from the earliest date of filing a non-provisional patent application. In the United States, a patent’s term may be lengthened by patent term adjustment, which compensates a patentee for administrative delays by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in granting a patent. The term of a U.S. patent may be shortened, if a patent is terminally disclaimed by its owner, over another patent.

We currently have 17 issued U.S. patents. We also have 29 issued foreign patents and 1 pending foreign patent application. We have issued patents that have terms expiring from 2025 through 2032, although terminal disclaimers, patent term extension or patent term adjustment can shorten or lengthen the patent term.

The following table summarizes the number of our patents and patent applications as of December 31, 2025:

U.S. Patents

Foreign Patents

U.S. Applications

Foreign Applications

SCD Technology (Patent Families 1-5)

15

29

—

1

Other Technology (Patent Families 6-9)

2

—

—

—

Total

17

29

—

1

With respect to our SCD technologies, we own patents and patent applications in four patent families. The patents and applications in Patent Family 1 are co-owned by us and the UOM. The patents and applications in Patent Families 2-4 are solely owned by us. The inventions disclosed in Patent Families 1-4 were developed with U.S. government funding and are subject to the obligations under the Bayh-Dole Act.

Patent Family 1 contains nine U.S. patents directed to systems and methods for processing leukocytes and for treating subjects with various inflammatory conditions using a SCD cartridge, and to a SCD cartridge. These patents will expire from 2028-2031, assuming that the required maintenance fees are paid. We also co-own with the UOM counterpart patents granted in Canada, Europe, Japan and New Zealand, with the European patent having been validated in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and The United Kingdom. These counterpart patents will expire in 2028, assuming that the required maintenance fees are paid. The patents and applications in Patent Family 1 are as follows:

Patent Family 1†

Jurisdiction

Status

Expiration

Subject Matter

Date

United States

Granted

2031

Methods for processing leukocytes and methods for treating subjects having inflammatory conditions using such methods

United States

Granted

2029

Methods for treating subjects undergoing a cardiopulmonary bypass

United States

Granted

2029

Methods for treating subjects with end-stage renal disease

United States

Granted

2029

Methods for treating subjects with acute renal failure

United States

Granted

2029

Methods for treating subjects with sepsis

United States

Granted

2031

A device that processes activated leukocytes and platelets

United States

Granted

2029

Methods for treating acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome

United States

Granted

2029

Systems for treating activated platelets

United States

Granted

2028

Systems for treating activated leukocytes

Canada

Granted

2028

Systems and methods for processing leukocytes and platelets and systems for treating inflammatory conditions

Canada

Granted

2028

A device for processing activated leukocytes and platelets

Japan

Granted

2028

A device and methods for treating leukocytes

Japan

Granted

2028

A device for processing activated leukocytes

New Zealand

Granted

2028

Systems and methods for processing leukocytes and platelets and for treating inflammatory conditions

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom

Granted

2028

A device that processes platelets or leukocytes

† This patent family was developed with U.S. federal government funding and is subject to obligations under the Bayh-Dole Act.

Pursuant to a license agreement with the UOM (as amended and restated, the “UOM License Agreement”), UOM has granted us a worldwide, royalty bearing, exclusive license to their interest in the co-owned patents and applications in Patent Family 1 in the field of medical devices for use in human therapeutics for certain technologies used in the SCD technology platform, including composition of matter and methods of use patents. In consideration for such exclusive license, during the term of the UOM License Agreement, we agreed to pay the UOM a royalty fee equal to 1% of net sales as well as a one-time milestone payment of $0.1 million upon FDA approval of the first licensed product under the license (paid in 2024), and to reimburse patent costs. As of December 31, 2025, we have incurred less than $20 thousand in royalties owed from sales of the QUELIMMUNE. Since January 2020, we have paid approximately $0.1 million to the UOM to reimburse patent costs under the license. Under the UOM License Agreement, the UOM’s liability is limited and we agreed to indemnify and hold the UOM harmless in connection with the use of the licensed technology and activities related to the products created using such licensed patents and/or technology. In October 2024, the parties amended the agreement to eliminate the 10% of any milestone payments, fees, etc. in exchange for extending the 1% royalty on net sales until the later of (a) expiration of the last to expire of the patent rights or (b) the ten (10) year anniversary of the first commercial sale, unless sooner terminated as provided in another specific article of this agreement.

The UOM License Agreement will remain in effect until the later of the expiration of all licensed patents or the ten-year anniversary of the first commercial sale under the agreement, unless terminated early. If we materially breach the terms of the UOM License Agreement, the UOM has a right to terminate the agreement. In some cases, we may have an opportunity to cure a material breach within 30 days or 90 days, but in some cases the UOM may terminate the agreement immediately upon our breach. We may also terminate the agreement by giving the UOM 90-day advance notice provided certain conditions are met.

In addition to the co-owned patents and patent applications in Family 1, we also solely own three additional patent families (Families 2-4) directed to the SCD technology. Patent Family 2 includes 3 U.S. patents directed to a second generation of the SCD cartridge and methods for using our SCD cartridge to process leukocytes. The patents will expire from 2031 to 2032, assuming that the required maintenance fees are paid. Counterpart patents have been granted in Australia, Canada, Europe, and Japan with the European patent having been validated in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. These patents will expire in 2031, assuming that the required maintenance fees are paid. The patents and the application in Patent Family 2 are as follows:

Patent Family 2†

Jurisdiction

Status

Expiration

Subject Matter

Date

United States

Granted

2032

Cartridge for treating leukocytes or platelets

United States

Granted

2032

Methods for processing leukocytes or platelets and for treating a subject with an inflammatory condition

United States

Granted

2031

Methods for processing leukocytes or platelets and for treating a subject with an inflammatory condition

Australia

Granted

2031

Cartridge for treating leukocytes or platelets and methods for treating a subject with an inflammatory condition

France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom

Granted

2031

Cartridge for sequestering leukocytes or platelets

Canada

Granted

2031

Cartridge for processing leukocytes or platelets

Japan

Granted

2031

Cartridge for treating leukocytes or platelets

Japan

Granted

2031

Cartridge for treating leukocytes or platelets

† This patent family was developed with U.S. federal government funding and is subject to obligations under the Bayh-Dole Act.

Patent Family 3 includes one U.S. patent directed to methods of treating chronic heart failure using a SCD cartridge, which will expire in 2032, assuming that the required maintenance fees are paid. A counterpart patent has been granted in Japan, that will expire in 2032, assuming that the required maintenance fees are paid. The patents and applications in Patent Family 3 are as follows:

Patent Family 3†

Jurisdiction

Status

Expiration

Date

Subject Matter

United States

Granted

2032

Methods for treating chronic heart failure

Japan

Granted

2032

Device for use in treating chronic heart failure

† This patent family was developed with U.S. federal government funding and is subject to obligations under the Bayh-Dole Act.

Patent Family 4 includes two U.S. patents directed to methods of treating chronic heart failure and acute decompensated heart failure using a SCD cartridge. These patents will expire in 2032, assuming that the required maintenance fees are paid. Counterpart patents have been granted in Australia and Canada, and a patent application is pending in Europe. These patents, and patent application, if granted, will expire in 2032, assuming that the required maintenance fees are paid. The patents and applications in Patent Family 4 are as follows:

Patent Family 4†

Jurisdiction

Status

Expiration

Subject Matter

Date

United States

Granted

2032

Methods for increasing myocardial function in subject with acute decompensated heart failure

United States

Granted

2032

Methods for increasing myocardial function in subject with chronic heart failure

Australia

Granted

2032

Methods for increasing myocardial function in a subject with acute chronic heart failure or chronic heart failure

Australia

Granted

2032

Methods, cartridges, and systems for improving myocardial function and treating inflammation associated with acute decompensated heart failure and chronic heart failure

Canada

Granted

2032

Devices for use in treating subjects with chronic heart failure and acute decompensated heart failure

Europe

Pending

2032*

Devices for use in treating subjects with chronic heart failure or acute decompensated heart failure

* Expiration date if application is granted.

† This patent family was developed with U.S. federal government funding and is subject to obligations under the Bayh-Dole Act.

With respect to our other technologies, we solely own patents and patent applications in two additional patent families (Patent Families 5-6) which are summarized as follows:

Patent Family 5

Jurisdiction

Status

Expiration

Subject Matter

Date

United States

Granted

2027

Extracorporeal cell-based therapeutic device and delivery system for renal cells

Patent Family 6

Jurisdiction

Status

Expiration

Subject Matter

Date

United States

Granted

2031

Methods for enhanced propagation of renal cells

In addition to seeking patent protection, we also rely on trade secrets and other confidential information to protect aspects of our business that are not amenable to, or that we do not consider appropriate for, patent protection.

Competition

The industry for treating inflammation is extremely competitive, and companies developing new treatment procedures face significant capital and regulatory challenges. As our SCD product is a clinical-stage device in adults and commercial stage device in pediatrics, we have the additional challenge of establishing medical industry support, which will be driven by treatment outcomes data resulting from human clinical studies and commercial usage. With QUELIMMUNE cleared by the FDA in pediatrics or any future regulatory body of another country, we may face significant competition from well-funded pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Additionally, we would likely need to establish large-scale production of our device in order to be competitive. We believe that our SCD is able to compete effectively in the market and we are not aware of any similar device that has completed regulatory approval in any country for the treatment of adults or children with acute kidney injury requiring continuous renal replacement therapy.

In both the United States and international markets, the use of medical devices is related in part to the availability of reimbursement from third-party payors, such as government and private insurance plans. Healthcare providers that use medical devices generally rely on third-party payors to pay for all or part of the costs and fees associated with the medical procedures being performed or to compensate them for their patient care services. Therapies that present a cost-neutral to cost-beneficial impact to the health economic system are generally viewed as more favorable from a reimbursement perspective. To this end, we conducted health economic outcomes research (HEOR) to estimate the economic impact of the QUELIMMUNE within the pediatric AKI-CKRT patient population. Our analysis revealed that pediatric AKI hospitalizations involving CKRT were estimated to cost over $450,000 per event, reflecting an enormous burden to healthcare institutions. The median length of stay (“LOS”) was 31 days per hospitalization. QUELIMMUNE therapy was projected to be cost-beneficial by lowering mortality as well as reducing hospital LOS by 3 days in pediatric AKI patients requiring CKRT, with estimated savings of ~$40,000 per hospitalization after six days of QUELIMMUNE use. These data were presented at the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week 2024 and at the AKI-CRRT Annual meeting in March 2025, and were published in the Journal of Medical Economics, titled "Projected hospitalization cost impact of selective cytpheretic device in pediatric acute kidney injury" on December 28, 2025 (1): 1467-1475 (doi: 10.1080/1369998.2025.2550860). However, lack of third-party coverage and reimbursement for our devices could delay or limit their adoption, and as such harm our competitive advantage in the market.

Sales and Marketing

We use a direct model for marketing and sales of QUELIMMUNE. Since obtaining FDA HDE approval for pediatric patients with AKI in February 2024, we terminated a distribution agreement with a third party, built a customer-facing infrastructure to support our direct sales model and will efficiently expand our footprint as new customers are added and QUELIMMUNE utilization increases.

We have hired internal sales and marketing employees focused on the initial launch of QUELIMMUNE into the U.S. Pediatric Market. Our traction with QUELIMMUNE in pediatric hospitals continues to increase as we add new commercial accounts and work through the IRB process in target accounts. We are also conducting analyses and preparing for the launch of the SCD therapy in the U.S. in the adult AKI population. Our plans are focused on developing an optimal infrastructure for an effective U.S. commercial launch inclusive of commercial staff requirements, marketing, sales and reimbursement strategies and refinement of the target account universe.

Government Regulation

Our SCD product is subject to regulation by various regulatory bodies, primarily the FDA and comparable international regulatory agencies, as applicable. These agencies require manufacturers of medical devices to comply with applicable laws and regulations governing the development, testing, manufacturing, labeling, marketing, storage, distribution, advertising and promotion, and post-marketing surveillance reporting of medical devices. The SCD therapy interacts with and deactivates the patient’s hyperinflammatory cells prior to their return to the patient. As the primary therapeutic mode of action of our SCD is attributable to the device’s impact on these autologous cells and their timely return to patients, FDA’s Center for Biological Evaluation and Research has primary jurisdiction over the premarket development, review and approval of the SCD as a medical device. Failure to comply with applicable requirements may subject a device and/or its manufacturer to a variety of administrative sanctions, such as issuance of warning letters, import detentions, mandatory safety notifications, repair/replace/refund actions, recalls; and/or, civil monetary penalties and/or judicial sanctions, such as product seizures, injunctions and criminal prosecution.

FDA’s Pre-market Clearance and Approval Requirements

Each medical device we seek to commercially distribute in the United States will require either a prior 510(k) clearance, unless it is exempt, a de novo request or a PMA or HDE approval from the FDA. Generally, if a new device has a predicate that is already on the market under a 510(k) clearance, the FDA will allow that new device to be marketed under a 510(k) clearance; otherwise, a de novo PMA or HDE application (if applicable) is required. Medical devices are classified into one of three classes—Class I, Class II or Class III—depending on the degree of risk associated with each medical device and the extent of control needed to provide reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness. Class I devices are deemed to be low risk and are subject to the general controls of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FD&C Act”), such as provisions that relate to: adulteration; misbranding; registration and listing; notification, including repair, replacement, or refund; records and reports; and good manufacturing practices. Most Class I devices are classified as exempt from premarket notification under section 510(k) of the FD&C Act, and therefore may be commercially distributed without obtaining 510(k) clearance from the FDA. Class II devices are subject to both general controls and special controls to provide reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness. Special controls are usually device-specific and may include performance standards, post-market surveillance requirements, patient registries, special labeling requirements, premarket data requirements and guidelines. Most Class II devices require the manufacturer to submit to the FDA a premarket notification requesting permission to commercially distribute the devices. Devices deemed by the FDA to pose the greatest risk, such as life-sustaining, life-supporting or implantable devices, are classified as Class III. In addition, novel devices that have not been previously classified by the FDA or which have been deemed not substantially equivalent to a previously cleared 510(k) device are considered Class III by default, unless and until they are down-classified by the FDA (e.g., via the de novo request process). High risk devices formally classified as Class III by regulation or administrative order cannot be marketed in the U.S. unless the FDA approves the device after submission of a PMA or, if applicable, an HDE. Novel devices that are Class III by default may be eligible for down-classification through the de novo request process, if the device manufacturer can demonstrate that the device is lower risk and should therefore be classified as Class I or Class II. The FDA can also impose post-market sales, marketing, or other restrictions on devices in order to ensure that they are used in a safe and effective manner. The SCD is classified as a Class III medical device and as such is subject to PMA or HDE submission and approval.

Premarket Approval Pathway

A PMA application must be submitted to the FDA for Class III devices for which the FDA has required a PMA. The PMA application process is more extensive than the 510(k) premarket notification and de novo request processes. A PMA application must be supported by extensive data, including but not limited to technical, preclinical, clinical, manufacturing and labeling to demonstrate to the FDA’s satisfaction reasonable evidence of safety and effectiveness of the device.

After a PMA application is submitted, the FDA has 45 days to determine whether the application is sufficiently complete to permit a substantive review and thus whether the FDA will file the application for review. The FDA has 180 days of FDA review time to review a filed PMA application, although the review of an application generally occurs over a significantly longer period of time due to hold periods during which the submitting sponsor (the Company) gathers information to address FDA requests for additional information. The total review process is highly variable and can take up to several years. During this review period, the FDA may request additional information or clarification of the information already provided. Also, an advisory panel of experts from outside the FDA may be convened to review and evaluate the application and provide recommendations to the FDA as to the approvability of the device.

Although the FDA is not bound by the advisory panel decision, the panel’s recommendations are important to the FDA’s overall decision-making process. In addition, the FDA generally conducts a preapproval inspection of the manufacturing facilities to ensure compliance with the Quality System Regulation. The agency also may inspect one or more clinical sites to ensure compliance with FDA’s regulations.

Upon completion of the PMA review, the FDA may: (i) approve the PMA that authorizes commercial marketing with specific prescribing information for one or more indications, which can be more limited than those originally sought; (ii) issue an approvable letter that indicates the FDA’s belief that the PMA is approvable and states what additional information the FDA requires, or the post-approval commitments that must be agreed to prior to approval; (iii) issue a not approvable letter that outlines steps required for approval, but which are typically more onerous than those in an approvable letter, and may require additional clinical trials that are often expensive and time consuming and can delay approval for months or even years; or (iv) deny the application. If the FDA issues an approvable or not approvable letter, the applicant has 180 days to respond, after which the FDA’s review clock is reset.

Humanitarian Device Exemption Pathway

In accordance with the Orphan Drug Act of 1984, a rare disease is defined as a disease or condition that affects fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S. Currently, in the U.S., only a portion of the 7,000 known rare diseases have approved treatments. By definition, rare diseases or conditions occur in a small number of patients. As a result, it has been difficult to gather enough clinical evidence to meet the FDA standard of reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness.

In order to address the challenge of rare diseases in the medical device realm, Congress included a provision in the Safe Medical Devices Act of 1990 to create a new regulatory pathway for products intended for diseases or conditions that affect small (i.e., rare) populations, which is the Humanitarian Device Exemption program.

A Humanitarian Use Device (“HUD”) is a medical device intended to benefit patients in the treatment or diagnosis of a disease or condition that affects or is manifested in not more than 8,000 individuals in the U.S. per year.

Once a Class III medical device has HUD designation, an HDE application can be submitted per Section 520(m) of the FD&C Act. An HDE application has most of the same requirements as a PMA application. However, an HDE is exempt from the effectiveness requirements of Sections 514 and 515 of the FD&C Act and is subject to certain profit and use restrictions.

Under section 520(m)(6)(A)(i) of the FD&C Act, an HUD is only eligible to be sold for profit after receiving an HDE approval if the device is intended for the treatment or diagnosis of a disease or condition that either:

occurs in pediatric patients or in a pediatric subpopulation, and such device is labeled for use in pediatric patients or in a pediatric subpopulation in which the disease or condition occurs; or

occurs in adult patients and does not occur in pediatric patients or occurs in pediatric patients in such numbers that the development of the device for such patients is impossible, highly impracticable, or unsafe.

HDE applicants whose devices meet one of the eligibility criteria above and wish to sell their HUD for profit should provide adequate supporting documentation to FDA in the original HDE application. HDE holders who wish to sell their devices for profit and who did not submit the request in the original HDE application may submit a supplement and provide adequate supporting documentation to demonstrate that the HUD meets the eligibility criteria.

FDA approval of an HDE application is predicated on evidence that the device will not expose patients to an unreasonable or significant risk of illness or injury and the probable benefit to health from use of the device outweighs the risk of injury or illness from its use, taking into account the probable risks and benefits of currently available devices or alternative forms of treatment (per Section 520(m)(2)(C) of the FD&C Act and 21 CFR 814.104(b)(3)). In addition, FDA must determine that the device would not be available to a person with the disease or condition in question without the HDE application approval and that there is no comparable device, other than another device under an HDE or IDE, available to treat or diagnose the disease or condition.

HDE amendments, supplements, and reports are generally subject to similar requirements as those for PMAs, and in fact the requirements for each of these types of HDE submissions refers back to the regulatory requirements for its PMA counterpart. FDA’s decision to “file” or “not file” an HDE application will be made within 30 calendar days from the date the HDE application was received. Overall, an HDE must be reviewed and a final determination made by FDA within 75 days from the date of the application being filed; however, the review of the application may occur over a significantly longer period of time due to hold periods during which the submitting sponsor (the company) gathers information to address FDA requests for additional information.

Upon completion of the HDE review, FDA may: (i) issue an Approval Order, which authorizes commercial distribution in accordance with any prescribed conditions of approval; (ii) issue an Approvable Letter that indicates FDA’s belief that the HDE is approvable and states what additional information FDA requires (generally resolution of minor deficiencies or completion of an FDA inspection); (iii) issue a Major Deficiency Letter to inform the applicant that the HDE application lacks significant information necessary for FDA to complete the review and that the application must be amended to provide the necessary information (e.g., additional clinical experience, additional non-clinical data, scientific rationale for data already provided, or new validation data and analyses); (iv) issue a Not Approvable Letter which indicates that FDA does not believe that the application can be approved ‘as-is’ because of significant deficiencies. The letter will, where practical, identify measures to place the application in an approvable form. These measures are typically more onerous than those in a Major Deficiency Letter or an Approvable Letter, and may require additional clinical trials that are often expensive and time consuming and can delay approval for months or even years; or (v) deny the application.

If FDA issues an Approvable Letter, Major Deficiency Letter, or Not Approvable letter, the review clock is stopped, and the application is placed on hold. Once the applicant submits a response, the review clock is restarted with a new 75-day FDA response timeframe.

Once an HDE application is approved, the HUD may be marketed. The HDE holder is responsible for ensuring that a HUD under an approved HDE is administered only in facilities having IRB or appropriate local committee oversight in accordance with FDA’s regulations governing IRBs. Approval by an IRB or an appropriate local committee is required before a HUD under an approved HDE can be used at a facility for clinical care (with the exception of emergency use).

The number of HDE devices that may be sold for profit is limited to a quantity known as the Annual Distribution Number (“ADN”). If the FDA determines that an HDE holder is eligible to sell the device for profit, the FDA will determine the ADN and notify the HDE holder.

The ADN is calculated by taking the number of devices reasonably necessary to treat or diagnose an individual per year and multiplying it by 8,000. For example, if the typical course of treatment using an HDE device, in accordance with its intended use, requires the use of seven devices per patient per year, then the ADN for that HDE device would be 56,000 (i.e., 7 x 8,000).

If the number of devices distributed in a year exceeds the ADN, the sponsor can continue to sell the device but cannot earn a profit for the remainder of the year.

We received the Final Approval Order on February 21, 2024, to sell QUELIMMUNE, the SCD therapy, for profit, to treat critically ill pediatric patients with life-threatening AKI.

Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are almost always required to support PMA and are sometimes required for 510(k) clearance. In the U.S., for significant risk devices, these trials require submission of an application for an IDE to the FDA. The IDE application must be supported by appropriate data, such as animal and laboratory testing results, showing it is safe to test the device in humans and that the testing protocol is scientifically sound. The clinical protocol under an IDE must be approved in advance by the FDA for a specific number of patients at specified study sites. During the trial, the sponsor must comply with various FDA requirements and regulations. For example, the investigators must obtain patient informed consent, follow the investigational plan, control the disposition of investigational devices and comply with all reporting and recordkeeping requirements. Clinical trials for significant risk devices may not begin until the IDE application is approved by the FDA and the appropriate institutional review boards (“IRBs”) at the clinical trial sites. An IRB is an appropriately constituted group that has been formally designated to review and monitor medical research involving subjects and which has the authority to approve, require modifications in, or disapprove research to protect the rights, safety and welfare of human research subjects. The FDA and/or the IRB at each site at which a clinical trial is being performed may withdraw approval of a clinical trial at any time for various reasons, including a belief that the risks to study subjects outweigh the benefits or a failure to comply with FDA or IRB requirements. Even if a trial is completed, the results of clinical testing may not demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of the device, may be equivocal or may otherwise not be sufficient to obtain approval or clearance of the product.

Ongoing Regulation by the FDA

Even after a device receives clearance or approval and is placed on the market, numerous regulatory requirements may apply. These include:

Upkeep of establishment registration and device listing;

Adherence to quality system regulations, which requires manufacturers, including third-party manufacturers, to follow stringent design, testing, control, documentation and other quality assurance procedures during all aspects of the manufacturing process;

Adherence to labeling regulations and the FDA prohibitions against the promotion of products for uncleared, unapproved or “off-label” uses and other requirements related to promotional activities;

Adherence to medical device reporting regulations, which require that manufacturers report to the FDA if their device may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury, or if their device malfunctioned and the device or a similar device marketed by the manufacturer would be likely to cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if the malfunction were to recur; and

Adherence to corrections and removal reporting regulations, which require that manufacturers report to the FDA field corrections or removals if undertaken to reduce a risk to health posed by a device or to remedy a violation of the FD&C Act that may present a risk to health.

Some changes to an approved PMA or HDE device, including changes in indications, labeling or manufacturing processes or facilities, require submission and FDA approval of a new PMA/HDE or PMA/HDE supplement, as appropriate, before the change can be implemented. Supplements to a PMA or HDE often require the submission of the same type of information required for an original PMA or HDE, except that the supplement is generally limited to that information needed to support the proposed change from the device covered by the original PMA or HDE. The FDA uses the same procedures and actions in reviewing PMA or HDE supplements as it does in reviewing original PMAs and HDEs. PMA supplements also require the submission of a user fee, which varies depending on the type of supplement.

Failure by us or by our suppliers to comply with applicable regulatory requirements can result in enforcement action by the FDA or state authorities, which may include any of the following sanctions:

warning or untitled letters, fines, injunctions, consent decrees and civil penalties;

customer notifications, voluntary or mandatory recall or seizure of our products;

operating restrictions, partial suspension or total shutdown of production;

delay in processing submissions or applications for new products or modifications to existing products;

withdrawing approvals that have already been granted; and

criminal prosecution.

In addition, the FDA imposes requirements on labeling and promotion, including requirements that all statements be truthful, accurate, not misleading, adequately substantiated, and fairly balanced and prohibits an approved device from being marketed for off-label use. The FDA and other agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses, and a company that is found to have improperly promoted off-label uses may be subject to significant liability, including substantial monetary penalties and criminal prosecution.

Newly discovered or developed safety or effectiveness data may require changes to a product’s labeling, including the addition of new warnings and contraindications, and also may require the implementation of other risk management measures. Also, new government requirements, including those resulting from new legislation, may be established, or the FDA’s policies may change, which could delay or prevent regulatory clearance or approval of our products under development.

Healthcare Regulation

In addition to the FDA’s restrictions on marketing of pharmaceutical products and medical devices, the United States healthcare laws and regulations that may affect our ability to operate include: the federal fraud and abuse laws, including the federal anti-kickback and false claims laws, federal data privacy and security laws, and federal transparency laws related to payments and/or other transfers of value made to physicians and other healthcare professionals and teaching hospitals. Many states have similar laws and regulations that may differ from each other and federal law in significant ways, thus complicating compliance efforts. For example, states have anti-kickback and false claims laws that may be broader in scope than analogous federal laws and may apply regardless of payer. In addition, state data privacy laws that protect the security of health information may differ from each other and may not be preempted by federal law. Moreover, several states have enacted legislation requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers to, among other things, establish marketing compliance programs, file periodic reports with the state, make periodic public disclosures on sales and marketing activities, report information related to drug pricing, require the registration of sales representatives, and prohibit certain other sales and marketing practices. These laws may adversely affect our sales, marketing, and other activities with respect to any product candidate for which we receive approval to market in the United States by imposing administrative and compliance burdens on us.

Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of available statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors, it is possible that some of our business activities, particularly any sales and marketing activities after a product candidate has been approved for marketing in the United States, could be subject to legal challenge and enforcement actions. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the federal and state laws described above or any other governmental regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal, and administrative penalties, including, without limitation, damages, fines, imprisonment, exclusion from participation in government healthcare programs, additional reporting obligations and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or other agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations.

From time to time, legislation is drafted and introduced in Congress that could significantly change the statutory provisions governing the regulatory approval, manufacture and marketing of regulated products or the reimbursement thereof. For example, in the U.S., the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, among other things, reduced and/or limited Medicare reimbursement to certain providers and imposed an annual excise tax of 2.3% on any entity that manufactures or imports medical devices offered for sale in the United States, with limited exceptions. The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed into law on December 20, 2019, has now permanently repealed the medical device excise tax. In addition, the Budget Control Act of 2011, as amended by subsequent legislation, further reduces Medicare’s payments to providers by two percent through fiscal year 2027. These reductions may reduce providers’ revenues or profits, which could affect their ability to purchase new technologies. Furthermore, the healthcare industry in the United States has experienced a trend toward cost containment as government and private insurers seek to control healthcare costs by imposing lower payment rates and negotiating reduced contract rates with service providers. Legislation could be adopted in the future that limits payments for our products from governmental payors.

Coverage and Reimbursement

In both the United States and international markets, the use of medical devices is dependent in part on the availability of reimbursement from third-party payors, such as government and private insurance plans. Healthcare providers that use medical devices generally rely on third-party payors to pay for all or part of the costs and fees associated with the medical procedures being performed or to compensate them for their patient care services. Should our products under development be approved for commercialization by the FDA, any such products may not be considered cost-effective, reimbursement may not be available in the United States or other countries, if approved, and reimbursement may not be sufficient to allow sales of our future products on a profitable basis. The coverage decisions of third-party payors will be significantly influenced by the assessment of our future products by health technology assessment bodies. If approved for use in the United States, we expect that any products that we develop will be purchased primarily by medical institutions, which may in turn bill various third-party payors for the health care services provided to patients at their facility. Payors may include CMS, which administers the Medicare program and works in partnership with state governments to administer Medicaid, other government programs, and private insurance plans. The process involved in applying for coverage and reimbursement from CMS is lengthy and expensive. Further, Medicare coverage is based on our ability to demonstrate that the treatment is “reasonable and necessary” for Medicare beneficiaries. Even if products utilizing our technology receive FDA and other regulatory clearance or approval, they may not be granted coverage and reimbursement by any payor, including by CMS. Many private payors use coverage decisions and payment amounts determined by CMS as guidelines in setting their coverage and reimbursement policies and amounts. However, no uniform policy for coverage and reimbursement for medical devices exists among third-party payors in the United States. Therefore, coverage and reimbursement can differ significantly from payor to payor.

Employees

As of December 31, 2025, we had 17 full-time employees. None of our employees are represented by labor unions or covered by collective bargaining agreements.

Corporate History

We were initially incorporated as the Predecessor under the name Nephrion, Inc. on June 6, 2007. On August 3, 2007, we amended our corporate name to CytoPherx, Inc. On June 19, 2019, we amended our corporate name to SeaStar Medical, Inc., herein the Predecessor as defined above.

On October 28, 2022, LMF Acquisition Opportunities, Inc. ( as defined above “LMF”), a Delaware special purpose acquisition company, consummated a series of transactions that resulted in the combination of LMF Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of LMF (“Merger Sub”), and the Predecessor, a Delaware corporation, pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated April 21, 2022 (the “Merger Agreement”), by and among LMF, Merger Sub and the Predecessor (the “Transaction”). Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, Merger Sub merged with and into the Predecessor, with the Predecessor surviving the merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of LMF (the “Business Combination”). Following the consummation of the Business Combination, LMF was renamed “SeaStar Medical Holding Corporation” (the “Company”).

Available Information

We make available free of charge on or through our website, https://seastarmedical.com, our Annual Reports, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements, and all amendments to those filings as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Information contained on, or that may be accessed through our website, is not part of, and is not incorporated into this Annual Report.

In addition, the SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy statements, and other information about issuers, such as us, who file electronically within the SEC. The address of the website is www.sec.gov.