First publication from South Africa and first stem cell transplantation performed in Mexico

Just over a year after Glycosorb® ABO was used for the first time in South Africa and on the African continent, the initial experience with our product in blood group incompatible kidney transplantation has been published¹. The results are excellent.

In February 2023, the transplant team at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, as the first hospital on the African continent, performed an ABO-incompatible kidney transplant treating a mother of two, who had been on the waiting list for nearly 10 years, with Glycosorb® ABO. The treatments and the transplant were successfully performed and also received extensive media coverage (for example, in Daily Voice and eNCA).

Now, just over a year later, their initial experience on how the company's product has successfully facilitated three blood group incompatible kidney transplants from living donors has been published. The conclusion is that Glycosorb® ABO is effective and enables blood group incompatible kidney transplants to be performed successfully in a South African setting.

In addition to blood group incompatible kidney transplants from living donors, Glycosorb® ABO is also used in South Africa in blood group incompatible liver transplants from deceased donors.

In Mexico, an ABO-incompatible stem cell transplant was recently performed following treatment with Glycosorb® ABO. The patient was a child, and both the treatments and the transplant were successfully performed. This is the first stem cell transplant using our product in Mexico.

1: Barday ZA. ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation using immunoadsorption columns: First experiences in South Africa. S Afr Med J [Internet]. 2024 Apr. 24 [cited 2024 May 8];114(3b):e1326. Available from: https://samajournals.co.za/index.php/samj/article/view/1326

For more information, please contact:

Johan Nilsson, interim CEO
Email: [email protected], Tel: +46 46 286 5230

Brief information about the company

Glycorex Transplantation AB (publ) is a global medical technology company headquartered in Sweden. The company has developed a unique medical technology (antigen-specific immunoadsorption) to specifically reduce blood group and autoantibodies in the blood.

The company's focus areas are within transplantation, blood transfusion, and autoimmune diseases. The company has sales in over 25 countries, with Europe as its largest market. Sales take place through own sales channels and in cooperation with distributors in selected markets. Product development and production takes place in the company’s own facility in Lund, Sweden.

Glycosorb® ABO is one of the company's self-developed proprietary medical devices that is used to facilitate blood group-incompatible transplantation by specifically reducing anti-A/B antibodies in the organ recipient's plasma. Whilst primarily used to facilitate blood group incompatible kidney transplants, Glycosorb® ABO is also used in blood group incompatible liver-, heart-, lung-, and stem cell transplants. More than 60 scientific publications have been published in reputable medical journals, showing excellent short- and long-term outcomes of blood group incompatible transplants performed with Glycosorb® ABO. Glycosorb® ABO has been used in more than 6,500 transplants in over 25 countries. 

The company has also developed and CE-marked a medical device variant of Glycosorb® ABO that targets a different customer segment: transfusion clinics and blood centers. The product can help increase the availability of universal blood components and has been shown to be effective for the preparation of low-titer blood plasma, whole blood, and platelet concentrate.
The company is collaborating with a leading European research institute to develop a product for the treatment of the autoimmune disease rheumatoid arthritis.

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