Today, the Herz- und Diabeteszentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen in Bad Oeynhausen has announced in a press release that their first blood group incompatible heart transplant using Glycosorb® ABO has been performed and with excellent results. The transplant was performed on a two-year-old girl, and she has now been able to celebrate her two-year-old birthday at home. The girl came to the hospital five months ago as a result of an incurable genetic heart muscle disease and was put on the waiting list for transplant in July this year.

The chances of being transplanted with a suitable blood group compatible organ are however often very low for young children and waiting times are expected to increase.
In August, Eurotransplant declared that it had a donor heart suitable for the girl, but from an incompatible blood group. The hospital decided to use Glycosorb^® ABO to facilitate the transplant. The treatment with Glycosorb^® ABO went excellent and the girl was successfully transplanted. The treatment is performed by incorporating Glycosorb^® ABO into the cardiopulmonary bypass system during the transplant.  
“By allowing blood group incompatible heart transplantation it is possible to significantly increase their chances of survival and, above all, reducing the waiting time'' said the clinic director of Bad Oeynhausener Kinderherzzentrum.

To read more about the transplant in Bad Oeynhausen, please click here.

The method of incorporating Glycosorb^® ABO into the cardiopulmonary bypass system was introduced in 2015 at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London. GOSH has published three articles on the subject^1,2,3. The results are excellent and have shown significant advantages over the previously used method.

In 2021, BBC wrote about Lucy, a 10-year-old girl, who is thought to be the oldest child in the world to receive a blood group incompatible heart (link). The GOSH method has also been introduced at other heart transplant centers in Europe.

1. Robertson A, Issitt R, Crook R, Gustafsson K, Eddaoudi A, Tsang V, Burch M; A novel method for ABO-incompatible heart transplantation J Heart Lung Transplant. 2018 Apr;37(4):451-457. doi: 10.1016/j.healun.2017.05.006.Epub 2017 May 5.
2. Issitt R, Crook R, Shaw M, Robertson A; The Great Ormond Street Hospital immunoadsorption method for ABO-incompatible heart transplantation: a practical technique Perfusion 2021 Jan;36(1):34-37. doi: 10.1177/0267659120926895. Epub 2020 Jun 3.
3. Issitt R, Booth J, Crook R, Robertson A, Molyneux V, Richardson R, Cross N, Shaw M, Tsang V, Muthurangu V, Sebire NJ, Burch M, Fenton M. Intraoperative anti-A/B immunoadsorption is associated with significantly reduced blood product utilization with similar outcomes in pediatric ABO-incompatible heart transplantation. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2021 May 29:S1053-2498(21)02325-1.

Contact
Johan Nilsson, Interim CEO, Glycorex Transplantation AB.
E-mail: info@glycorex.se, phone: 046-286 52 30

Brief information about the company
Glycosorb^® ABO is one of Glycorex Transplantation AB's self-developed proprietary medical devices that is used clinically in four continents to facilitate blood group-compatible transplants, especially in kidney transplants from related living donors, but the product is also used in liver, heart, lung and stem cell transplantation. The product has so far been used in more than 5,000 kidney transplants. The short-term and long-term results are excellent. The results have been presented in over 60 scientific articles in reputable medical journals. Each kidney transplant has been estimated to save up to SEK 5 million in dialysis costs alone. Each kidney transplant saves about 150 dialysis treatments per year, meaning that the over 5,000 kidney transplants performed after Glycosorb^® treatments, can be estimated to save over 700,000 dialysis treatments per year. In addition to Europe, the product is used in India, Canada, Israel, Singapore, Thailand, Mexico and Australia, for example.

The company has also developed a CE-marked medical device product for the production of universal blood plasma and are developing products for the specific reduction of autoantibodies in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. The company is collaborating with a leading European research institute to develop a product for the treatment of the autoimmune disease rheumatoid arthritis. There are approximately 5 million patients in the EU who have this disease.

Glycorex Transplantation AB (publ) is listed on NGM Main Regulated Equity (Nordic Growth Market) and is traded under the symbol GTAB B.