DENVER, Feb. 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SeaStar Medical Holding Corporation (Nasdaq: ICU), a medical device company developing proprietary solutions to reduce the consequences of hyperinflammation on vital organs, announces that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) Approval Order to the Selective Cytopheretic Device (SCD) Pediatric (SCD-PED) for use in children weighing 10 kilograms or more with acute kidney injury (AKI) due to sepsis or a septic condition requiring kidney replacement therapy (KRT). This is the first product in the Company’s newly branded Quelimmune product family, and the Quelimmune pediatric device can now be commercially marketed as a Humanitarian Use Device (HUD).

“This first regulatory approval is a major accomplishment for our company and, most importantly, it provides critically ill children with AKI access to a much-needed new therapy,” said Eric Schlorff, SeaStar Medical CEO. “Only about one-half of the children in the ICU with AKI requiring CKRT survive, and those who do are at increased risk of long-term conditions such as chronic kidney disease. In clinical studies, Quelimmune for pediatric AKI has been shown to reduce mortality rates and dialysis dependency in clinical studies.

“We appreciate the FDA’s willingness to work collaboratively with SeaStar Medical and our advisors to grant HDE approval to Quelimmune for pediatric use,” Mr. Schlorff added. “We believe the HDE for children weighing as little as 10 kilograms – or roughly 22 pounds – acknowledges the proven life-saving capabilities of our device and addresses a critical unmet need for patients. We are working to make Quelimmune therapy the new standard of care for AKI requiring CKRT in the ICU and to demonstrate its benefit in the many indications where hyperinflammation and dysregulated inflammatory processes are involved.”