Q&A with Xiaoxi Wei of X-Therma

As a child, I experienced the pain and frustration of watching a beloved family member wait unsuccessfully on an organ transplant list. I did not understand how we could preserve some things in a freezer, but not life-saving organs. I vowed to dedicate my life to solving this issue so others would not have to experience the pain my family and I endured.

I pursued a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry and in my research learned about the vast unmet need in organ transplantation. Organ transplantation is a $45bn industry in the US, yet 80% of transplantable organs are wasted. Worldwide, only 10% of the need is met. The biggest reason for this gap is that most organs are stored on ice for transport from donor to recipient, giving the maximum of a few hours to get to the patient. There are over 1 million people in immediate need of a transplant, yet only 37,500 transplants are done annually in the US.

I founded X-Therma to solve these problems by extending the preservation time. With better technology, we could preserve organs longer, keep them healthier, and enable better donor / patient matching – all leading to better patient outcomes and saving hundreds of thousands of lives.

Our nature inspired, fully synthetic cryoprotectant prevents ice damage to biological materials at the fundamental chemical level. The commercialization of this product could lead to breakthrough delivery methods positioning the product as a critical enabler for all regenerative medicine. It has properties long desired in the cell therapy market: non-toxic, DMSO-free and animal component free, to enable preservation of cell and tissue viability and functionality. The product is easy to use and mixed with cells just prior to freezing using well known processes and simple equipment found in every biolab. Validation through third parties demonstrated superior preservation results with high viability and functionality for therapeutic cells (MSCs, HSCs, iPSCs), engineered tissues (iPSC-derived cardiomyocyte monolayers) and whole organs (e.g. mouse heart, rat penis) at previously impossible sub-zero temperatures for greatly extended periods. In collaboration with a world-leading surgeon and team, we demonstrated the preservation of whole functioning organs for ground-breaking lengths of time below 0°C, i.e. the first fundamental innovation in organ preservation in 50 years. The results show that the product can improve preservation of regenerative medicines and increase the likelihood of successful therapy and positive outcome post-therapy.

We have been granted an extremely broad composition of matter patent that allows X-Therma full control of the biopreservation space and any and all future applications for this molecular family.

Our leadership team includes Dr. Xiaoxi Wei, the inventor of our core IP, Dr. Mark Kline, an expert in bioinspired chemistry who was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and Eli Mohamad, a four-time founder in medical devices and AI and co-founder of the Organ Preservation Alliance.

We have generated commitment from transplant centers responsible for 20% of total transplants in US ($9bn billable), as well as over 30 transplant surgeons. We have initiated 10 commercial pilot projects with leading cell therapy, tissue engineering, and big pharma drug discovery enterprises. Currently, we are discussing inclusion of our research grade product in Phase 1 trials for 30 CAR-T companies through a single distributor. Based on proprietary IP (6 patents filed, 2 granted), we have secured significant government funding as well as angel investment and investment from a European family office totaling $10.25M. At Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, we have received $10M of in-kind contributions and have access to $150M of lab equipment.

Our advisory board includes leaders from transplant surgery, biobanking and precision medicine, the DoD, cell therapy, biomimetic chemistry, and biotechnology policy.