What’s in your blood bag? If you said blood, you’re only partially right.
For more than half a century, most plastic blood bags used worldwide have been made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and a plasticizer called DEHP, or di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate. A softener that keeps the bags pliable and usable in the field, it also leaches into the blood and helps preserve it for as long as 42-days in refrigerated storage.
But recent studies have shown that DEHP plasticizers are dangerous carcinogenic endocrine disruptors that have been linked to ailments from asthma to eroding male reproductive capability. Now governmental bodies in Europe and the United States are looking to ban the use of the chemical in medical plastics with the European Union initially giving its industries until May 2025 to find an alternative (although that deadline has recently been extended).
There are safer plasticizers currently available, such as DEHT and DINCH, but none can do the job without reducing the current shelf life of stored blood. With 18 million units of donated blood disposed of each year due to expiration and the current global blood shortage standing at 30 million units per year, the transition away from DEHP could be a huge step backward, putting patients with rare blood types and those living in more remote communities at particular risk.
“DEHP is the pain point in the blood bag industry, but we knew we had an answer,” said Dr. Kumar Challa, Co-founder, President, and Chief Scientific Officer of Xheme, Inc., a specialty materials startup.
That answer: the Xheme Multifunctional Additive. XMA, for short, is a programmable, multifunctional additive that can be formulated in multiple ways to address myriad challenges facing the plastics and protective coatings industries—everything from oxidation to photodegradation.
Challa first began exploring the possibilities of nanomaterials at Louisiana State University’s Center for Advanced Microstructures in 2000, working with academic researchers from inside and outside of the US. A collaboration with Dr. Beverly Rzigalinski of the Via College of Osteopathic Medicine provided a true eureka moment when team members serendipitously discovered that certain metal oxide particles prepared by Challa’s team led to better preservation of rat blood. Further investigations revealed that these particles significantly reduced oxidative hemolysis — the breakdown of red blood cells from detrimental interactions with reactive oxygen species. For Challa, the opportunity was immediately clear and was the start of the Xheme journey.
Now, as part of a recently completed NSF STTR Phase I project, Challa and Xheme collaborator Dr. Tamir Kanias, an associate investigator at the Vitalant Research Institute, have found that combining XMA with DEHT plasticized PVC produces a blood bag that meets the established 42-day blood shelf-life benchmark – a significant increase compared to only DEHT plasticized PVC.
In fact, their research showed a 20-25% reduction in AAPH-induced oxidative hemolysis, red blood cell death caused by a water-soluble free-radical generator, with no evidence of significant leaching of XMA when tested in salt water for up to 50 days. The XMA-DEHT-PVC formula also demonstrated the additive’s antimicrobial properties.
Xheme is also currently running field tests of its XMA blood bags in cooperation with one of North America’s largest blood banks and the Canadian Blood Services
“There’s a lot of competition to build a better blood bag,” Karias said, “but XMA has antimicrobial, radiation resistant and antioxidant properties. Its potential is significant.”
Xheme has also shown that the new XMA-augmented formula blood bags could not only be manufactured, but that they could be manufactured without changing the established industry standards for either manufacturing or storing red blood.
That’s good news not only for patients who rely on the smooth delivery of live-saving blood, but for the manufacturers who have perfected efficient systems to produce PVC bags, the medical equipment makers who have countless established product lines, and the specially trained doctors and nurses who carefully store and administer blood from these bags. Additionally, XMA is a prime candidate for chemical recycling in which plastics are broken down into their building blocks and transformed into valuable secondary raw materials.
XMA is a win-win-win: it won’t endanger people, the planet or upend a $43 billion global market.
Further innovation includes developing XMA based non-PVC blood bag film in conjunction with a major supplier to the industry as more countries look toward eventually phasing out PVC in packaging and in medical equipment.
While the beachhead market for Xheme’s newly developed XMA may be blood bags and plastics, those aren’t the only frontiers the additive is set to conquer. A additive of the same family promises to bring unprecedented protection to paints and coatings.
“These particles have amazingly unique properties at the nanoscale,” Challa said. “We can quickly fine-tune these and program their chemistry to take on all types of challenges.”
XMA has shown remarkable resistance to corrosion, UV penetration, fungal and microbial activity, and several of the world’s largest paint manufacturers are currently testing the particle.
Worsening severe climate conditions are weathering everything from aircraft carriers to backyard decks more rapidly and battering the $167 billion coatings industry. While consumers demand brighter colors that don’t fade and antimicrobial paints that resist mold, commercial and industrial clients are looking for products that protect increasingly expensive capital investments from rust and decay. Meanwhile, regulators are pressuring companies to reduce health-threatening volatile organic compounds.
In direct tests done in partnership with industry leaders and an independent lab, one XMA arrested UV-driven color changes without affecting gloss, even after 800 hours of exposure. It reduced corrosion due to salt spray exposure by 40-50% after 200 hours and eliminated black fungus while retaining the color strength of organic pigments. All of which promises to help coatings producers reduce the number of additives needed in their products, while improving performance.
Furthermore, “product stewardship” and “life cycle analysis” are no longer just buzzwords—they are increasingly demanded by customers and have become key among the metrics by which most large companies are assessed.
“Many of the largest companies in coatings, plastics, and the broader chemicals industry have prioritized efforts to build size and scale, with technology development, innovation, and environmental/regulatory compliance often taking a backseat,” explained Andy Hinz, CFA, a managing director at Grace Matthews, an M&A advisory firm for the chemical and material science value chain.
“Companies like Xheme can provide coatings and chemical formulators with differentiated, “drop-in” technology that enhances performance attributes while also supporting customers’ sustainability and ESG requirements.”
Beyond medical plastics, paints, and coatings, Challa and the Xheme team are already working with academic, industry partners, and a select group of private investors to develop new XMA Additives carefully engineered for specific advancements in other fields and frontiers—including the final frontier, space. Work is currently underway exploring the use of XMA in aerospace applications and in food safety applications with Dr. Riccardo Amorati of the University of Bologna.
“Companies see an area for growth with Xheme,” said Director of the UMass Innovation Institute Kathryn Ellis. Xheme is located at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Mount Ida Campus in Newton, Massachusetts, and utilizes the university’s core research facilities in Amherst.
“XMA promises to be a multifunctional solution for multiple industries,” Challa added of the newly pioneered methods that have since helped spur seven US patent filings. “It is a platform that could revolutionize how we do so many things.”