Dry powders of whole blood prepared by thin-film freeze-drying - blood transfusions are the most often used life-saving procedure in hospitals worldwide

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) within the Department of Health and Human Services awarded Via Therapeutics, LLC $315,082 on September 1, 2026, under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837) to develop dry powders of whole blood using thin-film freeze-drying technology.

Via Therapeutics will develop and validate a thin-film freeze-drying process that rapidly freezes liquid whole blood into frozen thin films at freezing rates of 6,000–60,000 degrees Celsius per minute, then removes ice through sublimation. The resulting dried thin films are designed to maintain cell viability upon rehydration, dissolve rapidly when contacted with a diluent, and remain stable at ambient temperature without energy-intensive storage. The technology addresses the blood supply challenge in military and civilian trauma medicine, where packed red blood cells degrade after 42 days at 4 degrees Celsius, glycerol-preserved cells require time-consuming deglycerolization before transfusion, and fresh whole blood carries infectious disease transmission risk and logistical constraints in combat settings.

The award covers a one-year period of performance from September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2027, with work performed in Austin, Texas 78750. This is a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project grant, an assistance type that funds feasibility studies by small businesses.

Yet, packed red blood cells (RBCS) can only be stored for up to 42 days at 4OC before they must be discarded due to irreversible damages that occur during storage. This challenge is constant and especially critical for the united states armed services blood program, as massive blood loss remains the leading cause of preventable deaths in combat. Fresh whole blood (FWB), donated on-site by military and hospital personnel, is used by the U.S. Military as the most preferred resuscitation fluid for trauma patients with severe bleeding. However, the use of FWB is associated with the risk of infectious disease transmission and the logistic difficulties in quickly obtaining compatible FWB in combat. Long-term storage of RBCS is possible by keeping them frozen at -80OC in the presence of glycerol (40%), which must be removed through a time-consuming deglycerolization process prior to transfusion. Moreover, a -80OC storage is energy-intensive and not always available. Freeze-dried RBCS can potentially be conveniently carried in ambient conditions, but freeze-dried RBCS prepared by conventional freeze-drying have low viability upon rehydration (~55-86% or lower), and the rehydration process is slow and requires specialized conditions. Therefore, there remains a need for a new technology to prepare dry powders of human whole blood that maintain cell viability and can be easily rehydrated. Herein, we proposed to develop dry powders of human whole blood using our thin-film freeze-drying (TFFD) technology, which rapidly and homogeneously freezes liquid into frozen thin films at freezing rates of 6,000-60,000OC/min, and the ICE in the frozen thin films is then removed by sublimation. Moreover, the resultant dried thin films are porous and low- density and rapidly dissolve upon contact with a diluent. We have demonstrated the feasibility of using the TFFD technology to prepare stable dry powders of eukaryotic cells such as human monocytes and porcine RBCS. For example, porcine RBC powders prepared using TFFD showed no to minimum RBC hemolysis upon rehydration, and the rehydration required less than half of the time needed to rehydrate RBC powders prepared by conventional freeze-drying. To achieve our goal, we propose two specific aims: I) to develop and characterize thin-film freeze-dried powders of human whole blood by optimizing the powder compositions and the freezing, drying, and rehydration conditions, and II) to evaluate the storage stability of the thin-film freeze-dried powders of human whole blood in a 6-month stability study. To safeguard the success of the proposed project, we have assembled a team with complementary expertise in product development, biologics, thin-film freeze-drying, and blood and shock resuscitation. Upon completion of the proposed project, we expect to have prepared at least one stable human whole blood powder composition that is easy to rehydrate, with minimum cell loss or cell viability reduction. Future studies will focus on scaling up the manufacturing of the TFFD whole blood powder and testing its activity in vivo.